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FROM   THE   LIBRARY  OF 

REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.  D.  D, 

BEQUEATHED   BY  HIM  TO 

THE   LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


HISTORY 


OF    THE 


FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 


VOL.  II. 


HISTORY  /v'; 

{  ,  MAR  24  193; 

OF  THE  N^gGICAL  SE^'^ 

FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES, 


THE  REVOCATION  OF  THE  EDICT  OF  NANTES 
TO  OUR  OWN  DAYS. 


By  M.  CHARLES  WEISS, 

PEOFE880B     OF     HISTORY      IN      THE      LYCEE      BONAPARTE. 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  FRENCH  BY 
V 

HENRY    WILLIAM    HERBERT. 


WITH  AN   AMERICAN   APPENDIX,  BY  A  DESCENDANT  OF  THE 
HUGUENOTS. 


IN    TWO     VOLUMES. 
VOL.   II. 


NEW-YORK : 
STRINGER   &  TOWNSEND,   222   BROADWAY. 

1854. 


*  Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1854, 

By  STRINGER  &  TOWISISEND, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  district  of  New- York. 


JOHN   F.   TROW, 
PBINTEK  AND  6TEKE0TTPEB, 

49  Ann  Street. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.   II. 


BOOK  V. 

THE  EEFUGEES   IN  HOLT. AND. 
CHAPTET.    I, 

OF  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  TKE  KEFCGEES  IN  HOLLAKD. 

The  Walloon  colonies — Arrival  of  tlio  first  French  Eefngees  in  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries — Celebrated  Refugees — Mission  of  Amonet  and  Scion — Declaration 
of  the  magistracy  of  Am:  iordam,  16S1— Declaration  of  the  States  of  Holland — 
General  collection  in  favor  uf  the  Eefugees,  1682 — The  fugitives  of  Sedan,  1685 — 
Discourse  of  Fagel  to  the  States  of  Holland — Reprisals  against  the  Catholics  of 
Zealand— Letters  of  Louis  XIV.  to  the  Count  d'Avaux— Appointment  of  a 
general  fast — Political  measures — Eesolution  of  the  Magistrate  of  Middleburgh — 
Resolution  of  the  States  oi  Groningen,  1686 — Eesolution  of  the  Province  of 
Friseland. 

The  Exiled  Ministers— Measures  adopted  in  their  behalf— Military  Eefugees— Female 
Eefugees — Houses  of  Eefuge  for  women — Arrival  of  rich  Eefugees— Satins  ex- 
ported into  Holland— Dispatches  of  the  Count  d'Avaux— Eeply  of  Louis  XIV. — 
Mission  of  Bonrepaus— Spies  of  the  Count  d'Avaux— Increase  of  money  in  Hol- 
land—Different classes  of  Eefugees— Their  number— French  Colony  in  Amsterdam 
—Colonies  at  Rotterdam  and  the  Hague— Colonies  at  Leyden  and  Harlaem— Dis- 
persion of  the  Eefugees  through  the  Seven  Provinces— The  62  French  Churches  in 


CONTENTS. 

16S8— Emigrations,  posterior  to  the  year  of  the  Eevocation— Efforts  of  the  Eefugees 
to  procure  their  recall  to  France— Concession  of  the  right  of  citizenship  in  Holland 
and  West  Friseland,  1709— Declaration  of  the  States  General,  1715,     .       ,  9 


CHAPTER    II. 

OF  THE  POLITICAL  IXFLTJENCE  OF  TBCE  KEFUGEES  IN  HOLLAND. 

The  Eepublican  and  Orangeist  parties— Politics  of  the  Count  d'Avaux— Effect  of  the 
revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  on  the  minds  of  men— Diminished  influence 
of  the  Count  d'Avaus- Increasing  influence  of  the  Prince  of  Orange— Part 
taken  by  the  Eefugees  in  the  Coalition  of  16S9—Brousson— Moral  support  lent 
by  the  Eefugees  to  the  Prince's  expedition  against  England — Jurieu— Pecu- 
niary support— Military  support— Oath  taken  by  the  Military  Eefugees— Services 
of  Eefugee  oflBcers  in  the  Dutch  Armies— General  Belcastel— Other  distingiushed 
officers— Oflacers  of  Marine— Services  rendered  to  the  Dutch  Navy— The  sons 
of  Admiral  Duquesne— Political  writings  of  the  Eefugees— Jacques  Basnage— 
His  relations  with  the  Duke  of  Orleans, 36 


CHAPTER    III. 

OF  THE  EELIGIOUS  AND  LITEEAET  INFLTJENCE  OF  THE  EEFUGEES  IN  HOLLAND. 

Renewal  of  the  old  'Walloon  colonies— Influence  of  the  French  preachers— Charles 
Saurin— Claude— Jurieu— Du  Bosc—Superville— Propagation  of  the  French  lan- 
guage in  Holland— Progress  of  instruction  in  the  middle  classes— The  French 
Eefugees— Progress  of  letters  and  sciences— Influence  of  the  Eefugees  on  civil 
and  criminal  law — Advancement  of  the  exact  sciences — Pierre  Lyonnet — Lite- 
rary emigration— Bayle — Progress  of  historic  science— James  Basnage— Benoit— 
Janigon- Periodical  literature— French  journals— Letters  on  matters  of  the  day — 
Historical  and  political  Mercury— Leyden  Gazette— Literary  Journalism— New 
republic  of  letters, 57 


CHAPTER    IV. 

OF    THE    INFLTJENCE  OF  THE    EEFUGEES  ON  THE    PEOGEESS   OP  A6EI0TJLTUEE,  MANTT- 
FACTITEES  AND  COMMEECE. 

French  cultivators  in  the  Barony  of  Breda,  and  the  province  of  Friseland— Influ- 
ence on  Manufactures— Reports  of  the  Count  d'Avaux— Measures  taken  by  tJie 
City  of  Amsterdam— Peter  Bailie— Measures  of  the  other  towns— New  manufac- 
tures created  at  Amsterdam— Manufactures  founded  at  Eotterdam— Progress  of 


CONTENTS.  3 

Industry  at  Leyden  and  Harlaem— Manufactures  established  in  other  to-wns— 
Improvement  iu  mechanical  arts — French  paper  manufacture — Progress  of 
printing  a:id  the  book  trade — Huguetan — Diminution  of  French  exports  into 
Holland — Inflaence  of  the  Kefugees  on  the  progress  of  Commerce,       .       .    114 


CHAPTEE    V. 

OF  THE   COLONIES  OF  THE  REFUGEES  AT  THE  CAPE  AND  AT  SUEINAM. 

Colony  of  the  Cape— Yalley  of  the  French— French  Hoek— Cultivation  of  "Wheat- 
Improvement  of  the  Vine — Constantia  "Wine — Extinction  of  the  French  Tongue 
in  the  Cape  Colony— Actual  State  of  that  Colony — Colony  of  Surinam— Aersens 
of  Sommelsdik— -Families  of  Distinction  in  the  Colony  of  Surinam,       .        .    134 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  ACTUAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  DESCENDANTS  OF  THE  EEFUGEES  IN  HOLLAND. 

Services  rendered  by  the  descendants  of  the  Eefugees  in  the  army  and  in  diploma- 
cy—Louis Gaspard  Luzac— Decline  of  manufactures  in  the  eighteentli  century — 
Actual  state  of  manufactures  at  Leyden — Increasing  prosperity  of  commerce — 
Popularity  of  the  French  language  and  litei-ature — Translation  of  French 
names — Progressive  decrease  of  the  number  of  French  churches — Actual  con- 
dition of  the  churches,  founded  at  the  epoch  of  the  emigration,    .        .        .    141 


BOOK  VI. 


THE  EEFUGEES  IN  SWITZEELAND. 
CHAPTEE    I. 

THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  EEFUGEES  IN  SWITZEELAND, 

The  Eefugees  of  the  sixteenth  century— Foundation  of  a  French  Church  at  Bale — 

The  Count  de  la  Saxe  at  Berne — Growth  of  Geneva — D'Aubign6 — The  Duke  de 

Eohan. 
Division  of  Switzerland  into  two  camps — Eelations  of  the  Protestant  Cantons  with 

England  and  Holland  in  the  seventeenth  century— Attempts  at  intervention  in 

favor  of  the  French  Protestants— Diet  of  Aran  in  1684. 


4  CONTENTS. 

The  fugitives  from  Gex  and  Bresse,  1685— Grema— Journal  of  Jacques  Flournoy— 
Registers  of  the  Council  of  Geneva— Emigrations  of  1687  and  16SS— The  Refugees 
at  Zurich  and  Berne— The  Refugees  in  the  Pays  de  Yaud— Mission  of  Bernard  and 
of  the  Marquis  do  Miremont- Measures  taken  in  their  favor  by  the  Senate  of 
jjerne— Aid  granted  to  the  poor  by  the  Protestant  Cantons— Intervention  ofHer- 
wart  and  Wallienaer. 

Polity  of  Louis  XI v.— The  French  resident  at  Geneva— Reprisals  of  the  Sieur  de 
Passy— Threatening  Letters  of  Louis  XIV.— Order  to  the  Refugees  to  quit  Geneva 
—Measures  of  safety  taken  by  the  republic  of  Geneva— The  Baron  de  Yvoi— Alli- 
ance of  Geneva  with  Beme  and  Zurich,  in  1686— Secret  protection  of  the  Refu- 
gees—Intrigues of  Louis  XIV.  against  Berne  and  Zurich— Irritation  of  those  two 
towns  against  France. 

Number  of  Emigrants  in  Switzerland— The  Emigrants  in  the  Canton  of  Berne— Or- 
ganization of  the  four  colonies  of  Lausanne,  Nyon,  Vevay,  and  Berne— Colony  of 
Zurich— Number  of  Refugees  at  Bale,  Schaff  hausen,  and  St.  Gall— Number  of 
Refugees  at  Geneva— Right  of  citizenship  and  domicile— The  fugitives  of  Orange 
in  1703, 151 


CHAPTER    II. 

INFLTTENCE   OF  THE   REFUGEES   ON   AGKICULTIJEB,   MANTJFACTXTRES,   AND   COMMEECE. 

New  Modes  of  Cultivation  in  the  Pays  de  Yaud— Model  gardens— Culture  of  the 
Mulberry  in  the  Canton  of  Berne- Manufactures  at  Lausanne— End  of  the  trade 
of  peddling  in  the  Pays  de  Yaud— Silk  Manufactures  at  Berne— Manufactures  at 
Zurich— Commerce  of  Neufchatel— Progress  of  mechanical  arts  in  Geneva— Watcli- 
making— Contraband  trade, 185 


CHAPTER    III. 

OF  THE  POLITICAL  INFLUENCE   OF  THE  REFUGEES. 

Double  character  of  that  influence— Services  rendered  by  Henri  Duquesne,  to  the 
canton  of  Berne— Participation  of  the  Refugees  in  the  expedition  of  Colonel  Ar- 
naud,  1689— Project  of  the  Marquis  de  Miremont— Conduct  of  the  Refugees 
during  the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession— Cavalier— Colonel  de  Portes — Com- 
plaints of  the  Marquis  de  Puisieux — The  Banneret  Blanchet  de  Entry — Com- 
plaints of  the  French  Resident  at  Geneva — Relations  of  the  Refugees  with  the 
Camisards— Letters  of  Baville- Flottard — Conduct  of  the  Refugees  in  the  ques- 
tion of  the  succession  of  Neufchatel,  1707 — Services  rendered  to  the  evangelical 
cantons  in  the  war  of  Toggenbnrg,  1712— Battle  of  Villmergen— New  services 
rendered  to  Berne  during  the  eighteenth  century, 191 


CONTENTS.  J5 

CHAPTEE    IV. 

ON   THE     INFLUKXCE   OF  THE  REFUGEES   ON   LITERATD-KE   AND   THE   AKTS. 

Purification  of  the  French  Language  in  Eomanish  Switzerland— Progress  of  urba- 
nity in  manners-Propagation  of  the  doctrine  of  free  examination  in  Lausanne 
— Barbcyrac— The  painter  Jean  Petiiot— Antoine    Arlaud— Trouillon,  the   phy- 

.  sician-The  two  Le  Sages-Abauzit-Literary  and  religious  influence  of  tlie 
Eefugee  ministers-Their  relations  with  the  Protestants  of  the  South.— Martyrdom 
of  Brousson-Peyrol- Antoine  Court-Eeorganization  of  the  French  Churches- 
Eelations  of  the  Court  with  tlie  Eegent-His  retreat  to  Lausanne  (1729)-Ori2in 
of  the  Seminary  of  Lausanne-Silent  Protection  of  Berne— Court  of  Gebelin— Paul 
Rabaut— Eabaut  Saint-Eticnne, 204 


CHAPTEE    V. 

OP  THE  PRESENT     CONDITION   OF  THE     DESCEND.-iJfTS   OF  THE    REFITGEIS  IN   SWITZER- 
LAND. 

Progress  of  Agriculture,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce— Watchmaking  in  Geneva— 
Eefugees  who  became  celebrated  in  politics— The  Family  of  Odier— Benjamin 
Constant— Eefugees  who  gained  distinction  in  Literature,  Science,  and  the  Arts- 
James  Pradier— Spirit  of  proselytism— Severity  of  morals— Spirit  of  charity- 
Pious  legacies— Assistance  sent  to  Eeligionists  in  the  galleys— Cal an drin— Let- 
ter of  Pontchartrain-Closing  of  the  Seminary  of  Lausanne-Confiscation  of  the 
treasury  at  Geneva-Embodiment  of  the  colony  of  Beme  in  the  civil  corpora- 
tion of  La  Neuveville,         ....  ooq 


BOOK  VII. 

OF   THE  E8TABLISBCMENT   OF  THE   EEFUGEES   IN  DENMARK,  SWEDEN, 
AND  EIJSSIA. 

CHAPTER    r. 

THE  REFUGEES  IN  DENMARK. 

Memoir  of  the  Bishop  of  Zealand  against  the  Eefugees— Edict  of  Christian  V.,  in 
1681- The  Queen  Charlotte  Amelia— Second  Edict  of  1685— Colony  of  Copen- 
hagen—Colony of  Altona— Colonies  of  Fredericia  and  Gluckstadt. 

Military  Eefugees— Ordinance  of  Louis  XIV.— The  Count  of  Eoye— Eefugee 
sailors— Progress  of  agricultm-e  in  Denmark— Introduction  of  tobacco  culture- 
Rural  economy  of  the  planters  of  Fredericia— Progress  of  navigation  and  com- 
merce—New manufactures— Literary  influence  of  the  Eefugees— La  Placette— 
Mallet— Morality  of  the  Refugees— Examples  of  charity— Actual  condition  of 


CONTENTS. 

the  colony  of  Fredericia— Actual  condition  of  the  colonies  of  Copenhagen  and 
Altona, 243 


CHAP  TEE    II. 

THE  EEFTGEES  IN  SWEDEN. 

Intervention  of  Charles  XI.  in  favor  of  the  Alsatian  Lutherans — Protection  grant- 
ed to  the  Eefugees  at  Stockholm — Lutheran  Intolerance — J^ew  Refugees  under 
Charles  XII 265 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  EEBTJGEES  IN  EUSSIA. 

Letter  of  Frederic  William  to  the  Grand  Dukes  of  Moscow— Colony  of  Eefugees 
at  Moscow— Letter  of  Frederic  III.— Ukase  of  16SS  in  favor  of  the  Eefugees— 
Lefort's  Ecgiment— Colony  of  Eefugees  at  St  Petersburg— Its  relations  with 
Geneva, 26T 


CONCLUSION. 

General  appreciation  of  the  influence  of  the  Eefugees  abroad — Consequences  of 
the  Edict  of  Eevocation  on  France — Weakening  of  the  Kingdom — Duration  of 
the  reformed  party — Progress  of  the  skeptical  party — Condillac  and  Mabby — 
Eeti-ibutive  measures— Edict  of  1787— Laws  of  August  21  and  23, 17S9— Law 
of  December  15,  1790 2T1 


AMERICAN   HUGUENOTS. 

Earliest  attempts  of  the  Huguenots  to  colonize  America,  1655 — Philip  II.  and  Chai-les 
IX.— Pope  Pius  v.— Battle  of  Jarnac— Medals  to  commemorate  the  defeat  of  the 
Huguenots— Dragoonades — Eevocationof  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  16S5 — Louis  XIV.— 
General  emigration— Emigration  to  America  before  the  Eevocation,  1625— Hu- 
guenots of  Ulster— Settlement  at  Kingston— Its  massacre  by  the  Indians— Le 
Fevers,  their  early  history— New  •  Paltz— Ancient  Church— Venerable  Bible, 
1643 — Walloons — Associations  of  French  and  Dutch — Huguenots  in  New  Eng- 
land'and  Virginia— Curious  relict— Fontaine  family  in  Ireland  and  America— 
Church  in  Charleston,  early  and  present,  &c., 2S4 


CONTENTS. 


AUTHENTIC   DOCUMENTS 

REFEKEED  TO   IN  JUSTIFICATION  OF  THE  TEXT. 

1.  Edict  of  Nantes  with  its  warrant  and  secret  articles, 335 

2.  Eevocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 378 

3.  Passages  from  the  Reports  sent  to  the  government  by  the  Intendants  of  Dis- 

tricts in  169S,       382 

4.  Annoyance  from  Passports, 389 

5.  Edict  of  Potsdam, 390 

6.  Concessions  and  privileges  granted  by  Charles  I.,  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  etc.,  .  394 

7.  An  Address  to  James  11.  on  his  accession  to  .the  throne,  by  the  deputies 

of  the  French  and  Dutch  churches  of  London, 398 

8.  Unpublished  correspondence  of  Bonrepaus  with  Seignelay,     ....    399 

9.  Extracts  from  Reports  made  to  Count  d'Avaux  touching  the  projected  flight 

of  rehgionists  by  the  Sieur  de  Tilliers, 406 

10.  Abb6  Dubois  on  the  alliance  between  France  and  Holland,    ....    409 

11.  Letter  addressed  by  the  Minister  Scion  to  the  magistracy  of  Amsterdam,  in 
the  name  of  the  Protestant  French  Refugees  in  that  city,      ....    409 

12.  Reports  of  Missionaries  sent  to  Africa, 415 


HISTORY 

OF    THE 

FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES, 


BOOK  V. 

THE  KEFUGEES  IN  HOLLAND. 


CHAPTER    I. 

OF    THE    ESTABLISHMENT    OF    THE    EEFUGEES    IN   HOLLAND. 

The  "Walloon  colonies — Arrival  of  the  first  French  Eefugees  in  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries — Celebrated  Refugees — Mission  of  Anionet  and  Scion — Declaration 
of  the  magistracy  of  Amsterdam,  16S1 — Declaration  of  the  States  of  Holland — 
General  collection  in  favor  of  the  Eefugees,  1GS2— Tiie  fugitives  of  Sedan,  16S5— 
Discourse  of  Fagel  to  the  States  of  Holland — Reprisals  against  the  Catholics  of 
Zealand — Letters  of  Louis  XIV.  to  the  Count  d'Avaux — Appointment  of  a 
general  fast — Political  measures — Resolution  of  the  Magistrate  of  Middleburgh — 
Resolution  of  the  States  of  Groningen,  16S6 — Resolution  of  the  Province  of 
Friscland. 

The  Exiled  Ministers — Measures  adopted  in  their  behalf— Military  Refugees — Female 
Refugees— Houses  of  Refuge  for  women — Arrival  of  rich  Refugees— Satins  ex- 
ported into  Holland — Dispatches  of  the  Count  d'Avaux — Reply  of  Louis  XIV. — 
Mission  of  Bonrepaus — Spies  of  the  Count  d'Avaux — Increase  of  money  in  Hol- 
land—Different  classes  of  Refugees— Their  number— French  Colony  in  Amsterdam 
—Colonies  at  Rotterdam  and  the  Hague— Colonies  at  Ley  den  and  Harlaem — Dis- 
persion of  the  Refugees  through  the  Seven  Provinces — The  62  French  Churches  in 
1688— Emigrations,  posterior  to  the  year  of  the  Revocation — Efforts  of  the  Refugees 
to  procure  their  recall  to  France — Concession  of  the  right  of  citizenship  in  Holland 
and  West  Friseland,  1709  -Declaration  of  the  States  General,  1715. 

Holland,  even  from  the  beginning  of  the  middle  ages,  has 
been  an  asylum  for  all  the  outlaws,  who  fled  for  refuge  from 
all  parts  of  Europe,  to  seek  a  home  on  her  hospitable  soil. 
VOL.  rr — 1* 


10  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES, 

But  it  is  especially  the  religious  troubles  of  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries,  which  peopled  them  with  crowds 
of  exiles.  During  the  reign  of  Mary  Tudor,  above  thirty 
thousand  English,  who  had  embraced  the  Reform,  found 
there  a  shelter.  The  Thirty  Years'  War  attracted  thither  a 
host  of  Germans,  flying  before  the  armies  of  Wallenstein  and 
Tilly,  who  obtained,  on  the  banks  of  the  Amstel,  the  Yssel 
and  the  Rhine,  that  religious  liberty  which  they  had  claimed 
in  vain  in  their  own  country.  But  the  most  important  emi- 
gration was  that  of  the  Walloons,  the  Brabancons,  and  the 
Flemmings,  who  were  compelled  to  escape  from  the  tyranny 
of  the  Duke  of  Albi},  Recjuesens,  and  the  Count  of  Parma. 
For  a  long  time,  the  reformed  religion  had  found  adherents 
in  the  provinces  of  the  Low  Countries.  The  first  churches, 
which  were  under  the  cross^  or,  as  they  likewise  termed  it, 
in  the  secret^  concealed  themselves  from  the  persecution  by 
hiding  their  faith  under  mystic  names,  the  sense  of  which 
was  revealed  to  believers  only.  That  of  Oudenarde  called 
itself  "The  Fleur  de  Lis;"  that  of  Tournay,  "The  Palm- 
tree  ;  "  that  of  Antwerp,  "  The  Vine  ;  "  that  of  Mons,  "  The 
Olive."  The  church  of  Lille  had  for  its  symbol,  "  The 
Rose ; "  that  of  Douay,  "  The  Wheat-sheaf,"  and  that  of 
Arras,  "  The  Hearts'-ease."  *  In  1551,  they  published  their 
confession  of  faith,  in  French.  In  1563,  their  deputies  of 
the  reformed  communities  of  Flanders,  Brabant,  Artois  and 
Hainault,  united  themselves  in  a  single  body,  and  held  the 
first  synod,  the  acts  of  which  have  come  down  to  us.  In- 
numerable partisans  of  the  new  faith  there,  were  to  be  found 
in  the  Low  Countries,  and  that  country  would  probably  have 
become  the  most  Protestant  of  all  Europe,  but  for  the  tor- 
rents of  blood  poured  out  by  the  Duke  of  Alba,  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  faith  of  Rome.  The  general  insurrection 
which  followed  the  elevation  of  William  I.,  the  union  of 
Utrecht,  the  pacification  of  Ghent,  and  the  memorable  act  by 

*  Memoir  of  Teissedre  I'Ange,  p.  11.     Amsterdam,  184S. 


WALLOON    REFUGEES.  H 

which  the  King  of  Spain  was  declared  to  be  disseized  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  northern  provinces  of  the  Low  Countries, 
caused  thousands  of  fugitives  to  flock  thither.  Eagerly  re- 
ceived by  the  States  Greneral,  they  formed,  in  succession,  the 
Walloon  Colonies,  at  Amsterdam  in  1578;  at  Harlaem  in 
1579 ;  at  Leyden  in  1584;  at  Delft  in  1586 ;  at  Middleburgh 
in  1579;  at  Utrecht  in  1580;  and  at  Dordrecht  in  1589. 
When  the  Prince  of  Parma,  as  much  by  his  able  policy  as  by 
his  victories,  had  reconquered  to  the  Spanish  dominion  the 
southern  provinces,  he  left  to  the  dissenting  inhabitants  the 
choice  between  exile  and  a  return  to  the  creed  of  their 
ancestors.  Most  sold  their  goods  and  retired  to  Holland. 
Thus  were  extinguished  the  last  relics  of  Protestantism  in 
the  cities  of  Tournay,  Oudenarde,  Mechlin,  Antwerp,  and 
Ghent.  But  if  the  new  religion  disappeared  from  the  Spanish 
provinces  of  the  Low  Countries,  it  bloomed  anew  with  fresh 
lustre  in  those  of  the  north,  which  saw  the  rise  of  new 
churches  at  Rotterdam  in  1605,  at  Nimeguen  in  1621,  and 
at  Tholen  in  1658. 

It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  the  French  Protestants 
should  often  seek  asylum  in  a  country  which  had  shown  so 
much  sympathy  for  the  Walloon  refugees,  whom  they  regard- 
ed as  their  brothers.  When  in  1685,  an  edict  of  Henry  IIL 
commanded  them  to  be  converted  to  the  Romish  faith,  or  to 
quit  the  kingdom  within  the  space  of  six  months,  many  of 
them  repaired  to  Holland  and  joined  the  Walloon  communi- 
ties, whose  language  they  spoke,  and  whose  creed  was  their 
own.  This  emigration  recommenced  after  the  fall  of  La  Ro- 
chelle.  It  was  doubled  under  Louis  XIV.,  when  that  prince 
promulgated  his  first  edicts  against  his  Protestant  subjects. 
In  1688,  the  Count  d'Estrades,  on  his  return  from  his  em- 
bassy at  the  Hague,  informed  Ruvigny  that  more  than  eight 
hundred  families  had  fled  to  Holland,  in  order  to  escape  the 
persecution.*       From  that  period,   our   western   proviaces 

*  Life  of  du  Bosc,  by  Legendro,  p.  '71.    Rotterdam,  1694. 


12  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

ceased  not,  during  a,  century,  from  depopulating  themselves, 
to  the  benefit  of  the  Batavian  republic.  A  large  number  of 
learned  men  and  preachers,  at  different  periods  revisited  the 
Academy  of  Leyden,  and  the  churches  founded  by  Walloon 
refugees,  while  endeavoring  to  escape  the  perils,  of  every 
kind,  to  which  they  were  incessantly  exposed.  The  most  dis- 
tinguished of  these  were  Pierre  du  Moulin,  who  occupied 
during  several  years  an  extraordinary  chair  at  Leyden,  and 
at  the  same  time  did  parochial  duty  in  the  Walloon  church. 
Charles  Drelincourt,  son  of  a  Parisian  pastor,  surgeon  of 
the  armies  of  Turenne  in  Flanders,  and  physician  in  ordinary 
to  Louis  XIV.,  who  retired  to  Leyden,  in  1688,  was  nomi- 
nated professor  of  the  University  in  that  city  ;  and  became, 
at  a  later  period,  the  physician  of  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
Moise  Charas,  the  distinguished  chemist,  whose  teachings  in 
the  royal  botanical  gardens  of  Paris  had  diffused  such  bril- 
liancy around,  and  whose  Pharmacopoeia,  had  been  translated 
into  every  European  language,* — Jean  Polyandre,  a  native  of 
Metz,  who  long  discharged  the  pastoral  functions  of  the 
church  of  Dordrecht,  which  esteemed  him  one  of  its  most  el- 
oquent preachers^ — Etienne  Le  Moine  of  Caen,  Frederic  Span- 
heim  of  Geneva,  Andre  Rivet,  and  a  crowd  of  others  follow- 
ed on  the  traces  of  the  first  refugees.  As  precursors  of  the 
refugees  who  quitted  France  in  1685,  they  made  clear  the 
way  for  Basnage,  Claude,  Jurieu,  Superville,  Huet,  Martin, 
Benoit,  Chaufepie,  and  to  him,  who  was  to  efface  them  all  by 
the  superiority  of  his  genius,  Saurin,  who  was  the  patriarch 
of  "  the  Refuge,"  and  who  contributed  more  than  all  the  rest 
to  prevail  on  the  Protestants  of  France  to  leave  "  that  Baby- 
lon, drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  faithful." 

Taking  the  last  twenty  years  of  the  seventeenth  century 
as  a  starting  point,  the  French  emigration  into  Holland  rose 

*  Charas  subsequently  returned  to  Paris,  was  received  into  the 
Academy  of  Sciences,  and  died  a  Papist,  in  1698. — Memoirs  of  Erman 
and  Reclam,  vol.  iv.  p.  116. 


AMONET    AND    SCION.  13 

rapidly  to  tlie  dignity  of  a  political  event.  The  first  "  dra- 
goonings"  gave  the  signal.  When,  in  1681,  the  armed  mis- 
sionaries of  Louvois  were  poured  into  Poitou,  an  inexpressi- 
ble terror  possessed  all  minds,  and  thousands  of  fugitives 
departed  for  that  sacred  land  of  religious  liberty,  which,  for 
above  a  century,  had  given  asylum  to  so  many  persecuted 
spirits.  The  Sieur  Amonet  repaired  from  Paris  to  the  Hague, 
in  order  to  facilitate  their  establishment  in  their  future 
country.  He  first  addresssed  himself  to  Scion,  a  Protestant 
minister,  who  received  a  pension  in  recompense  of  services 
rendered  the  state.  These  two  men,  animated  by  the  same 
ardent  zeal,  combined  their  efforts  in  favor  of  their  unhappy 
countrymen.  In  a  memorial,  which  they  drew  up  in  com- 
mon, and  addressed  to  the  magistrates  of  the  cities,  they 
produced  most  valid  reasons,  which  could  not  but  determine 
the  republic  to  give  a  kind  reception  to  the  refugees,  to  sup- 
port them  for  the  first  few  years,  to  grant  them  some  privile- 
ges ;  above  all,  to  aid  them  in  establishing  those  manufactures 
which  should  contribute,  one  day,  to  the  riches  of  the  coun- 
try. These  considerations  made  a  lively  impression  on  the 
first  Burgomaster  of  Amsterdam,  Van  Beuningen,  and  the 
Echevins,  Hudde,  Korver  and  Oppmeer.  They  perceived  all 
the  advantages  which  they  might  derive  from  the  fatal  policy 
of  Louis  XIV.  Ere  long  a  public  declaration  announced  to 
the  refugees,  that  the  city  of  Amsterdam  would  grant  to  all, 
who  should  request  it,  the  right  of  citizenship,  and  freeman's 
privilege  of  trade ;  that  is  to  say,  the  liberty  of  freely  exer- 
cising their  trades,  and  the  exemption  of  taxes  and  the  other 
ordinary  town  charges,  during  a  space  of  three  years,  however 
considerable  the  properties  might  be  of  which  they  should 
chance  to  be  possessed.  Beyond  this,  advances  were  prom- 
ised for  the  purchase  of  tools  necessary  to  the  exercise  of 
their  trades  ;  and  engagements  were  even  entered  into  with 
them  for  the  purchase  of  the  products  of  their  manufactures 
until  such  time   as   they  should  no  longer  require  public  as- 


14  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

sistance.*  The  States  of  Holland  soon  followed  the  exam« 
pie  of  Amsterdam,  By  a  declaration  issued  Sept.,  25,  1681, 
they  discharged  all  refugees,  who  should  settle  in  that  prov- 
ince, of  all  taxes  for  a  period  of  twelve  years,  f 

In  the  public  acts  in  favor  of  the  oppressed  Protestants, 
the  magistracy  of  Amsterdam  and  of  the  States  of  Holland, 
had  forborne  all  mention  of  the  name  of  France.  The  re- 
^llection  of  the  invasion  of  1 672,  for  which  the  insolence  of 
a  few  journalists  had  served  as  a  pretext,  was  present  to  every 
mind,  and  the  republic  carefully  avoided  all  that  might 
wound  the  suspicious  irritability  of  Louis  XIY.  The  ob- 
ject, however,  was  nevertheless  fully  gained,  for  in  less  than 
eight  days  after  the  promulgation  of  the  last  decree,  all  the 
Protestants  of  France  were  informed  thereof.  On  the  arrival 
of  the  first  fugitives,  and  the  tale  which  they  related  of  their 
sufi'erings,  a  cry  of  indignation  went  up,  through  the  whole 
of  Holland.  The  name  of  Marillac,  who  directed  the  dra- 
goonings  in  Poitou,  was  never  pronounced  but  with  horror. 
The  recent  Edict,  which  permitted  the  children  of  the  re- 
formed, at  the  age  of  seven  years,  to  embrace  the  Romish 
religion,  added  a  fresh  impulse  to  public  indignation.  "  The 
fury  is  extreme  in  all  the  towns,  and  especially  in  Amster- 
dam," wrote  the  Count  d'Avaux,  to  his  government. if  The 
Edict  of  Louis  XIY.  was  translated  into  Dutch,  and  circu- 
lated throughout  the  provinces.  Lamentations  were  sung 
through  the  streets,  by  night,  in  order  to  stir  up  the  sympa- 
thies of  the  people.     The  exasperation  became  so  great,  that 

*  Enumeration  of  all  the  French  Protestant  Refugees  in  Amster- 
dam from  the  year  1681,  presented  to  the  Burgomasters,  March,  24, 
1684,  by  the  minister  Scion.    Archives  of  the  Town  Hall,  Amsterdam. 

f  Resolutie  van  Hollande,  van  25  September,  1681.  Quoted  af- 
ter M,  Koenen,  History  of  the  Establishment,  and  of  the  influence  of 
the  French  Refugees  in  the  Low  Countries.  In  Dutch,  p.  77.  Am- 
sterdam, 1846. 

X  Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  i.  p.  154.     Paris,  1752. 


THE    PRINCE    OF    ORANGE.  15 

the  Prince  of  Orange,  who  had  vainly  opposed  the  conclusion 
of  the  Peace  of  Nimegiien,  believed  that  the  moment  had 
arrived  for  acting  aboveboard,  and  for  gratifying  the  impla- 
cable hatred  he  had  sworn  against  the  Great  King.  At  his 
instigation,  the  Grand  Pensionary  Fagel  proposed  to  the 
States  of  Holland,  to  order  a  general  collection  in  favor  of 
the  French  Protestants  who  had  taken  refuge  in  that  prov- 
ince. That  proposition,  uttered  on  the  third  of  December, 
1 682,  was  adopted  on  the  same  day,  and  put  into  execution 
without  delay.  Those  of  "  the  reformed,"  who  still  tarried  in 
France,  were  informed  that  a  portion  of  the  sums  arising 
from  these  collections,  would  be  reserved  to  allay  the  suffer- 
ings of  those  who  should  thereafter  come  to  claim  an  asylum 
from  the  republic*  The  rigorous  winter  of  that  year  ena- 
bled many  of  the  new  refugees  to  escape  more  easily  from 
the  hands  of  their  oppressors,  by  taking  advantage  of  the 
ice  in  order  to  reach  Amsterdam.  Among  them  was  the  son 
of  Claude,  who  had  returned  from  a  pastoral  circuit  in  Hol- 
land, and  now  permanently  established  himself  in  Holland. 
The  sight  of  these  unhappy  persons  raised  public  opinion, 
and  rekindled  religious  animosities  to  such  a  degree,  that  it 
was  even  in  contemplation  to  banish  the  Catholic  priests;  and 
but  for  the  remonstrances  of  Fagel,  a  cruel  persecution 
would  have  been  avenged  by  reprisals  neither  less  odious  nor 
unjust,  t 

The  province  of  Friseland,  long  renowned  for  its  love  of 
liberty,  had  not  awaited  the  example  set  by  Holland  in  1681. 
So  early  as  May  7th  of  that  memorable  year,  it  had  offered 
asylum  to  the  refugees,  and  promised  them  the  enjoyment 
of  all  the  rights  of  natives.  On  October  16,  next  ensuing, 
it  exempted  them  from  all  taxation  for  the  space  of  twelve 
years.  These  two  decrees  preceded  the  arrival  of  the  fugi- 
tives.    Thanks  to  the  generous  reception  which  they  met, 

*  Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  i.  pp.  258,  259. 
f  Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  i.  p.  267. 


16  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

their  numbers  rapidly  increased;  and  when,  on  August  4. 
1683,  a  considerable  body  again  presented  themselves,  the 
magistracy  granted  them  many  privileges,  and  distributed 
lands  to  all  those  who  would  engage  to  cultivate  them.* 
The  refugees  who  established  themselves  in  Friseland  were 
almost  all  rich  landowners  or  agriculturists.  The  manufac- 
turers and  mechanics,  for  the  most  part,  preferred  large 
towns,  and  the  merchants  sea-ports  as  their  residence. 

The  progress  of  the  persecutions  in  Franee  soon  gave  a 
new  impulse  to  emigration.  By  degrees,  as  the  ordinances  of 
Louis  XIV.  became  more  rigorous,  and  as  the  revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes  became  more  imminent,  "  the  reformed  " 
departed  in  greater  numbers  from  their  country,  which  was 
now  so  cruel  to  them.  When,  in  the  month  of  July,  1685,  the 
exercise  of  their  religion  was  interdicted  at  Sedan,  a  crowd 
of  fugitive  families  repaired  to  Maestricht,  and  there  united 
themselves  to  the  Walloon  community  founded  in  that  city 
in  1632,  dispersed  in  1672,  during  the  French  occupation, 
and  re-established  after  the  Peace  of  Nimeguen. 

About  a  month  before  the  revocation,  on  September  20, 
1685,  the  Grand  Pensionary  Fagel  addressed  an  energetical 
discourse  to  the  States  General  of  Holland,  in  which  he 
recalled  to  their  memory  all  that  their  own  ancestors  had 
undergone  in  defence  of  their  religion,  the  succor  which  they 
had  themselves  rendered  to  the"  reformed," and  concluded  by 
a  touching  portraiture  of  the  persecutions  of  the  French 
Protestants.  His  eloquent  words  awoke  a  responsive  echo 
in  every  heart.  "'  I  may  not  dissemble  from  your  Majesty," 
wrote  the  Count  d'Avaux,"  that  all  the  deputies  from  the  towns 
have  been  greatly  moved  by  his  discourse  in  favor  of  their 
co-religionists,  especially  when  he  stated  that  the  Dutch  domi- 
ciled in  France,  could  neither  leave  the  country,  nor  withdraw 

*•  Sehwartzenbergh.  Groot  Plakaat  en  Charterboek  ran  Fries- 
land,  vol.  V.  fol.  1193,  quoted  from  M.  Koenen,  p.  78. 


ROMANISM    SUPPRESSED    IN    ZEALAND.  17 

their  possessions,  although  not  naturalized  Frenchmen."  * 
A  commission  was  nominated,  to  draught  a  report  to  the 
assembly,  of  the  measures  it  was  judged  good  to  adopt. 
Remonstrances  were  addressed  to  the  representative  of 
Louis  XIV.,  and  instructions  were  sent  to  the  Dutch  ambas- 
sador at  Paris,  that  he  should  complain  to  the  King  of  the 
iniquitous  proceedings  of  his  government.  These  complaints 
were  not  without  effect.  The  French  monarch  declared  to 
the  Count  de  Staremberg,  that  he  did  not  pretend  to  detain 
the  subjects  of  the  States  General  contrary  to  their  will,  and 
that  passports  would  be  granted  to  all  who  desired  to  with- 
draw and  sell  their  effects,  f  The  bitter  indignation  pro- 
duced by  the  discourse  of  Fagel  was  nevertheless  aggravated 
by  the  news  from  France,  which  announced  the  progress  of 
the  persecutions.  It  was  felt  so  violently  in  Zealand,  that 
the  states  of  that  province  closed  the  Romish  Churches, 
banished  the  priests,  forbidding  them  to  reappear  under 
pain  of  death,  and  gave  orders  to  a  great  number  of  families 
to  sell  their  goods  and  leave  the  country. |  For  a  moment 
it  was  apprehended  that  the  provinces  of  Gruelderland, 
Friseland,  and  G-roningen,  would  follow  the  example  of 
Zealand.  Fortunately  it  was  not  so  ;  and  not  only  did  that 
barbarous  act  find  no  imitators,  but  the  banished  Papists 
were  kindly  received  in  Rotterdam,  notwithstanding  the  well- 
known  zeal  of  that  city  in  behalf  of  Protestant  principles. 
The  magistrates  of  Amsterdam  showed  themselves  in  no  less 
a  degree  faithful  to  the  grand  principles  of  religious  liberty 
by  displaying  equal  generosity  toward  these  victims  of  the 
intolerance  of  their  co-religionists  ;  but,  at  the  same^time,  they 
exhibited  a  still  growing  sympathy  for  the  fugitives  of  their 

*  Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  v.  pp.  144,  145. 

f  Dispatch  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  Oct.  4,  1685.  Office  of  French 
Foreign  Affairs. 

X  Dispatch  of  St.  Didier,  dated  the  Hague,  Nov.  8,  1685.  Archives 
of  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs. 


18  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

own  creed.  To  the  three  French  preachers  whom  they  had 
hitherto  supported,  they  added  five  others,  in  1685;  thus 
preparing,  in  anticipation,  consolers  for  the  future  exiles, 
whom  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  was  about  to 
pour  out  into  their  city  walls.* 

The  Count  d'Avaux  long  pretended  ignorance  of  the 
cruel  measui'es  of  his  government.  He  denied  the  persecu- 
tions entirely,  or  charged  the  accounts  of  the  fugitives  with 
exaggeration.  But  ere  long  dissimulation  became  impossible, 
and  all  concealments  were  rendered  useless,  when  Louis  XIV. 
wrote  to  his  ambassador  himself,  at  the  Hague,  on  Oct.  18, 
1685,  announcing  to  him  his  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  his 
grandfather.  "  I  am  very  happy  to  inform  you,"  thus  he 
addressed  him,  "  that,  Grod  having  granted  full  success  to 
the  means  I  have  long  adopted  for  bringing  back  my  sub- 
jects into  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  and  the  advices  which  I 
daily  receive  of  an  infinite  number  of  conversions,  leaving 
me  no  room  to  doubt  that  the  most  obstinate  will  now  follow 
the  example  of  the  rest ;  I  have  interdicted  all  exercise  of  the 
falsely  termed  reformed  religion  within  my  kingdom,  by  an 
Edict,  of  which  I  send  you  a  copy  for  your  private  informa- 
tion, which  will  be  immediately  passed  in  all  my  parlia- 
ments, and  will  meet  the  less  difficulty  in  its  execution,  in 
that  there  are  few  persons  left  so  obstinate  as  to  prefer  . 
persisting  in  error,  f  '''^ 

This  decisive  act  every  where  awoke  public  sympathy  in 
favor  of  the  French  Protestants.  In  all  the  provinces  and 
towns  collections  were  taken  up  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor 
refugees ;  every  where  steps  were  taken  to  render  tolerable 
the  voluntary  exile  which  they  had  so  courageously  encoun- 
tered. The  representatives  of  the  Seven  Provinces  united  in 
national  assembly,  prescribed  a  general  fast  for  Wednesday, 
November  21,  1685.     All  Protestants  were  invited  to  thank 

*  Dispatch  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  Oct.  19,  1685. 
f  Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  v.  p.  18Y. 


POLITICAL    RELIEF.  19 

Grod  for  the  grace  lie  gave  them  to  be  able  to  worship  him 
in  liberty,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  entreat  him  to  touch  the 
heart  of  the  King,  who  inflicted  persecutions  so  cruel  on  the 
true  believers.  All  business  affairs  were  suspended  on  that 
solemn  day ;  three  sermons  were  delivered  in  each  church, 
and  care  was  taken  to  choose  almost  every  where  refugee 
ministers,  in  order  that,  being  keenly  moved  themselves, 
they  might  draw  from  their  own  emotions  the  most  pathetic 
inspirations  wherewith  to  impress  the  people,  and  stimulate 
it  to  the  utmost.*  Political  measures  followed  these  dem- 
onstrations of  religious  sympathy.  October  24,  1685,  the 
magistrates  of  Middleburgh,  in  Zealand,  announced,  through 
the  journals,  that  all  refugees,  who  should  come  and  estab- 
lish themselves  within  their  walls,  would  be  exempted  from 
all  taxation  for  a  space  of  ten  years,  f  On  the  16th  of  No- 
vember, the  burgomasters  of  the  city  of  Utrecht  caused  it 
to  be  inserted  in  all  the  public  papers,  that  all  who  demanded 
an  asylum  should  receive  the  right  of  citizenship,  and  should 
be  free  from  all  taxation  for  a  period  of  twelve  years. J  A 
similar  resolution  was  adopted  on  the  5th  of  February, 
1786,  by  the  states  of  Groningen  and  Ommelandes  of  Gron- 
ingen.  The  province  of  Friseland  signalized  itself  above  all 
the  rest,  by  the  numerous  and  important  privileges  which  it 
granted  them.  It  farther  ordered  a  general  collection,  the 
proceeds  of  which  should  be  divided  among  the  poorest  refu- 
gees.'^ The  towns  of  Holland  rivalled  each  other  in  gene- 
rosity, and  so  truly  liberal  and  Christian  was  the  spirit  of 
that  country,  that  not  only  the  reformed  communities,  but 

*  Dispatch  of  St.  Didier,  N"ov.  15,  1685. 

f  The  "Walloon  communities  of  Zealand  before  and  after  the  re- 
vocation of  the  edict  of  If  antes,  by  Dresselhuis,  p.  46.  Berg,  op  Zoom. 
1848.  In  Dutch. 

X  Van  de  Water,  Utrechtsch  Plakaatboek,  vol.  iiL  fol.  2*74.  Quoted 
by  Koenen,  p.  85. 

§  Schwartzenberg,  Grost  Plakaatboek  van  Friesland,  vol.  v.  fol. 
1248.     Quoted  by  Koenen,  p.  85. 


20  FRENCH    PK.OTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

Lutherans,  Anabaptists,  and  even  Catholics,  contributed  to 
the  relief  of  the  refugees. 

The  French  preachers,  who  were  the  first  to  arrive,  were 
the  principal  objects  of  public  solicitude.  In  the  single  year 
of  the  revocation,  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  sought 
an  asylum  on  the  free  soil  of  the  United  Provinces,*  Every 
where  measures  were  taken  for  their  support.  From  the 
21st  of  December,  1685,  the  states  of  Holland  allowed  them 
an  annual  sum  of  12,000  florins,  which,  one  month  later,  was 
raised  to  25,000.  Pensions  were  assigned  to  seventy  of 
their  number,  who  were  distributed  among  the  difi"erent 
towns  of  the  province.  The  married  ministers  received  for 
their  entertainment  four  hundred  florins  ;  those  who  lived  in 
celibacy,  two  hundred.  Four  new  pastors  were  attached  to 
the  Walloon  community  of  Amsterdam.!  The  states  of 
Zealand  voted  four  thousand  florins  for  those  who  should 
establish  themselves  in  their  island.  They  settled  the  an- 
nual charge  for  the  entertainment  of  married  preachers  at 
four  hundred  florins,  and  that  of  those  who  had  no  families, 
at  three  hundred.  They  allowed,  moreover,  an  indemnity 
of  two  hundred  florins  to  each  city  which  would  add  a  refu- 
gee minister  to  the  number  of  its  pastors. J 

The  Prince  of  Orange  attached  to  his  person  two  preach- 
ers of  the  church  of  Paris.  He  added  six  hundred  florins 
to  the  pension  of  fourteen  hundred  florins,  which  the  states 
allowed  to  Claude,  as  historiographer  of  Holland.  Menard, 
who  was  first  appointed  minister  at  the  Hague,  subsequently 
became  chaplain  to  the  future  King  of  England. §  But  it 
was,  more  especially,  to  gentlemen  and  soldiers,  that  this 
prince  granted  his  puissant  protection.  Perceiving  all  the 
advantage  that  he  might  derive  from  the  multitude  of  dis- 
ciplined officers,  who  were  constantly  issuing  from  France, 

*  Memoirs  of  Erman  and  Reclam,  vol.  i.  p.  192, 

f  Koenen,  p.  85.  ;{:  Dresselhuis,  p,  48. 

§  Dispatch  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  Jan.  15,  1686. 


REFUGEES    IN    WILLIAM's    ARMY.  21 

burning  to  be  avenged  on  their  persecutors,  he  proposed  to 
raise  two  new  regiments,  while  waiting  to  commence  his  ex- 
pedition against  James  II.  But  the  States,  which  were  as 
yet  fearful  of  his  warlike  projects,  would  not  consent  to  this 
increase  of  the  standing  army.*  They  received  no  less  coldly 
a  proposal  which  he  made  to  establish  a  sum  for  the  pay  of 
the  French  officers.  Solely  engaged  by  the  care  of  light- 
ening the  burthen  of  those  taxes,  which  weighed  so  heavily 
on  the  country,  they  were  opposed  to  every  measure  which 
would  have  led  to  new  expenses.  Irritated  by  these  delays, 
and  fearing  the  departure  of  this  select  band  for  England,  or 
for  Brandenburg,  the  prince  caused  it  to  be  publicly  an- 
nounced that  he  would  himself  undertake  the  pay  of  all  the 
military  refugees.  This  step  put  an  end  to  the  hesitation  of 
the  States.  They  found  sums  sufficient  to  furnish  pensions 
to  a  large  number  of  gentlemen,  while  awaiting  the  succes- 
sive vacancies  which  should  permit  their  incorporation  into 
the  armies  of  the  republic.  Nevertheless,  with  a  last  rem- 
nant of  deference  for  Louis  XI Y.,  this  money  was  drawn 
from  the  sums  destined  to  the  ambassadors  for  secret  service 
money. t  Thus  the  prince  succeeded  in  retaining  the  French 
officers  in  Holland.  Little  by  little,  he  distributed  them 
among  his  regiments,  with  promise  of  rapid  promotion.  The 
colonels  received  an  allowance  of  1,800  livres;  lieutenant- 
colonels,  of  1,300;  majors,  of  1,100;  captains,  of  900  ;  lieu- 
tenants, of  500;  ensigns  and  cadets,  of  400. {  Very  shortly 
he  obtained  the  power  of  creating  companies  of  cadets  ;  the 
first  of  these,  composed  of  fifty  young  gentlemen,  was  placed 
in  garrison  at  Utrecht.^     At  length,  yielding  to  his  reiter- 

*  Dispatch  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  Dec.  6,  1685. 

f  Dispatch  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  Dec.  27,  1685. 

^  The  proportion  of  French  money  to  that  of  Holland  is  as  six  to 
five  ;  that  is  to  say,  six  livres  French  are  but  five  Dutch,  Dispatch 
of  Dec.  27,  1685. 

§  Dispatch  of  March  7,  1685. 


22  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

ated  instances,  the  States  assigned  a  particular  fund,  which 
was  successively  augmented,  and  raised  to  180,000  florins 
annually,  for  the  French  refugee  officers,  or,  as  the  Count 
d'Avaux  expressed  it,  for  the  French  officers  who  had 
deserted.* 

The  women  found  a  generous  protectress  in  the  Princess 
of  Orange.  She  selected  several,  whom  she  attached  to  her 
person  as  ladies  of  honor,  and  herself  made  provision  fol'  the 
education  of  the  young.  Houses  of  refuge,  for  their  recep- 
tion, had  been  founded  by  the  rich  families  belonging  to  the 
emigration,  and  these  the  Princess  took  under  her  protection. 
Thanks  to  her  generous  support,  more  than  a  hundred  ladies 
of  noble  birth,  after  losing  all  that  they  possessed  in  France, 
and  having  seen  their  fathers  or  husbands  thrown  into  dun- 
geons, found  an  asylum  in  these  establishments,  prepared  for 
them  at  Harlaem,  Delft,  the  Hague,  and  Harderwick,  by  the 
pious  providence  of  those  who  had  preceded  them  to  this 
land  of  exile.  Madame  de  Danjeau  exercised  this  mode  of 
hospitality  in  the  houses,  which  she  directed  at  the  Hague 
and  at  Schiedam;  Madame  de  Soustelle  did  likewise  at  Rot- 
terdam, and  Marie  du  Moulin  at  Harlaem.  The  house  at 
Harlaem,  founded  by  the  Marquis  de  Yenours,  was  exclusive- 
ly reserved  for  young  ladies  of  noble  birth,  each  of  whom 
was  to  contribute  foui*  thousand  florins  to  the  common  ex- 
penses. The  burgomasters  exempted  it,  for  three  years,  from 
all  taxation,  and  the  States  of  Holland  completed  this  act  of 
national  munificence  by  an  annual  gift  of  2,000  florins.  At 
Amsterdam,  the  magistracy  assigned  to  the  Marquis  de  Yen- 
ours a  vast  property,  which  received  a  similar  destination,  and 
served  at  the  same  time  as  a  place  of  retreat  for  the  widows 
of  exiled  preachers,  f  At  the  Hague,  an  ancient  convent  of 
preaching   monks   was  changed   into   an  establishment  for 

*  Dispatch  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  June  VI,  1687. 
f  Archives  of  the  Town  Hall  at  Amsterdam.    Muniment  Register, 
Ko.  4,  fol.  237. 


MARY    OF    ORANGE.  23 

women.  A  boarding-house,  instituted  .at  Nort,  for  young 
ladies  of  quality,  received  an  annual  succor  of  two  thousand 
florins  from  the  Princess  of  Orange.  All  these  pious  asy- 
lums, created  or  protected  by  that  illustrious  Princess,  were 
placed  by  her  under  the  high  protection  of  Marie  Du  Moulin. 
She  forgot  them  not  after  the  parliament  of  England  had 
decreed  her  the  crown,  and  Mademoiselle  de  la  Moussaye 
was  frequently  the  dispenser  of  her  charities.  * 

The  state,  in  this  manner,  succored  those  of  the  refugees 
who  were  poor;  but  a  great  number  had  no  occasion  for 
public  assistance,  and  it  was  with  a  palpably  infamous  intent 
that  the  Gomte  d'Avaux's  spies  circulated  a  report,^  that  the 
greater  part  of  the  emigrants  were  reduced  to  such  straits 
as  to  gather  shell-snails  in  the  woods,  and  cook  them,  for 
want  of  other  food,  f  Many  of  them  might,  indeed,  be 
enumerated  who  had  succeeded  in  saving  some  relics  of  tjieir 
fortunes.  Those  who  were  most  closely  pressed,  had  sold 
their  properties  in  haste  and  at  a  sacrifice ;  but  those  who 
had  better  facilities  awaited  some  years,  in  order  to  dispose 
of  them  on  better  terms.  A  wine-merchant  of  Paris,  Mariet 
by  name,  thus  saved  a  fortune  of  600,000  livres,  and  retired 
to  Holland  with  a  forged  passport,  which  served  in  succession 
for  fifteen  of  his  friends.  J  A  bookseller  of  Lyons,  named 
G-aylen,  established  himself  in  Amsterdam,  with  above  a 
million.  His  brother,  who  lived  in  Paris,  had  preceded  him 
with  100,000  livres.  ^  However,  the  emigration  of  the  prin- 
cipal merchants  did  not  occur  until  1687  and  1688.  The 
greater  part  of  these,  natives  of  Normandy,  Brittany,  Poitou 
and  la  Guienne,  embarked  on  ships,  their  own  property,  which 

*  Berg.  The  Refugees  in  the  Low  Countries,  after  the  Revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  ISTantes,  vol.  i.  pp.  -iO,  41.  Amsterdam,  1845.  In 
Dutch. 

f  Letter  of  the  SieurTillieres,  joined  to  the  Dispatch  of  the  Count 
d'Avaux,  March  15,  1686. 

X  Letter  of  TiUieres,  April  15,  1686. 

§  Ibidem. 


24  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

sometimes  disembarked  in  Holland  with  more  than  300,000 
crowns  in  ingots  or  in  coined  money.  One  of  the  first  mer- 
chants of  Rouen,  Cossard  by  name,  came  thus  to  establish 
himself  at  the  Hague,  after  having  realized  the  whole  of  his 
fortune.  More  than  two  hundred  and  forty  merchants  of  the 
same  town  followed  him  into  Holland,  or  passed  over  into 
England,  carrying  their  wealth  along  with  them.  "  It 
seems,"  wrote  the  Count  d'Avaux,  "  that  those,  who  are 
the  richest,  are  now  beginning  to  leave  the  kingdom."* 
Already,  in  1685,  more  than  twenty  millions  had  been  with- 
drawn from.  France,  and  the  Count  d'Avaux  had  informed 
Louis  of  the  fact.f  Perhaps  he  entertained  hopes,  that 
the  disastrous  course  on  which  the  French  government  had 
entered,  would  by  this  news  be  brought  to  a  conclusion.  In 
1687  he  was  so  much  alarmed,  that  he  ventured  on  making 
representations  to  the  King.  "  I  should  consider.  Sire,"  he 
wrote,  "  that  I  were  wanting  to  my  duty,  did  I  not  inform 
you  of  what  has  come  to  my  knowledge,  and  which  concerns 
the  good  of  your  service.  It  is  certain  that  the  most  of 
those  persons  who  have  emigrated  of  late,  have  done  so  only 
on  account  of  different  imprisonments,  which  have  occurred 
in  the  provinces ;  as  for  example,  the  detention  of  some  per- 
sons in  Alencon  led  the  Sieur  Cossart,  although  a  resident 
of  Lyons,  where  all  is  tranquil,  to  apprehend  something  of 
the  same  nature.  And  I  venture,  yet  farther,  to  take  the 
liberty  of  saying  to  your  Majesty,  that  if  the  new  converts 
were  treated  throughout  France  as  they  are  at  Paris,  in 
Rouen,  and  under  the  eyes  of  your  Majesty,  not  one  half  of 
those  who  have  quitted  France  would  have  done  so."  J  To 
which  remonstrance  the  monarch  sent  only  this  fantastical 
reply.  "  The  desertion  of  my  subjects  lately  converted,  is 
the  effect  only  of  a  disordered  imagination,  and  the  remedy 

*  Dispatch  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  October  23,  IGST. 
f  Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  v.  p.  181. 
:|:  Dispatch  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  October  23,  168Y. 


FRENCH    SPIES    OF    D  AVAUX.  25 

applied  to  it  would  be  worse  than  the  evil  itself.  There  is, 
therefore,  nothing  but  to  wait  until  Divine  goodness  shall 
terminate  this  disorder,  which,  perchance,  it  has  permitted 
only  in  order  to  purge  my  kingdom  of  disorderly  and  dis- 
obedient servants."*  Attempts  were  made  to  cause  a  certain 
number  of  refugees  to  return  to  France.  The  Marquis  de 
Bonrepaus  took  on  himself  this  difficult  task,  which  had  no 
better  success  in  Holland  than  in  England.  The  Count 
d'Avaux  endeavored,  on  his  part,  to  lessen  the  exportation 
of  money  from  the  kingdom,  by  the  payment  of  able  agents, 
whose  duty  it  should  be  to  insinuate  themselves  into  the  con- 
fidence of  the  fugitives,  to  surprise  them  out  of  their  secrets, 
and  to  inform  themselves  of  the  secret  dispositions  of  the  Pro- 
testant families,  who  were  preparing  themselves  for  emigra- 
tion. A  certain  person,  named  Tillieres,  whom  he  designates, 
in  his  dispatches,  "the  giver  of  information,"  gave  all  the  poor 
Protestants  so  generous  a  reception,  that  they  regarded  him 
®,s  their  father.  To  some  he  distributed  money,  to  others 
he  procured  establishments  suitable  to  their  condition.  He 
had  founded  a  little  colony  at  Voorberg,  in  a  pleasant  and 
fertile  country  between  Delft,  Leyden  and  the  Hague  ;  he  had 
built  a  church  there,  and  thus  acquired  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  all  the  refugees.  The  Count  d'Avaux  also  em- 
ployed a  certain  Sieur  Blanquet  at  Brussels,  one  Jean  Noel, 
to  whom  he  gave  expectations  of  the  release  of  a  friend  in 
France ;  one  Sieur  Vallemont  at  Amsterdam,  Le  Boutelier, 
Foran,  Danois,  and  several  others,  who  played  the  part  of 
spies  for  him ;  and,  thanks  to  their  venal  information,  hun- 
dreds of  unhappy  men,  arrested  on  the  frontiers  of  Flanders, 
or  on  the  point  of  embarking,  were  dragged  to  the  galleys. 
But  the  Prince  of  Orange  caused  the  house  of  the  ambassa- 
dor, whose  tricks  he  suspected,  to  be  closely  watched.  Til- 
lieres, surrounded  in  his  house  one  day,  defended  himself 
with  the  courage  of  a  bandit  against  the  soldiers  sent  to  ar- 

*  Dispatch  of  Louis  XIY.,  October  30,  IBSY. 
VOL.  n. — 2 


26  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

rest  him,  and  died  sword  in  hand.  Foran  and  Danois,  being 
recognized  on  the  Exchange  at  Amsterdam,  were  informed 
of  their  danger  in  season,  by  a  refugee,  who  generously  saved 
their  lives  by  favoring  their  escape  to  the  Hague,  where  they 
found  inviolable  sanctuary  in  the  hotel  of  the  French  em- 
bassy. To  prevent  the  informations  of  their  accomplices,  the 
journalists  were  forbidden  to  publish  in  future  any  news  con- 
cerning the  refugees,  and  especially  the  methods  which  they 
had  employed  in  order  to  escape  their  persecutors.  This 
prohibition  was  obeyed  implicitly,  and  partially  explains  the 
paucity  of  established  facts,  which  have  reached  us  in  rela- 
tion to  the  numbers,  and  exact  date  of  arrival,  of  the  families 
which  found  refuge  in  Holland. 

The  Count  d'Avaux  could,  therefore,  no  longer  oppose 
but  slight  resistance  to  the  tide  of  emigration.  It  contin- 
ued for  a  long  time,  and  with  it  continued  the  export  of  spe- 
cie. The  following  facts  may  enable  persons  to  judge  of  the 
extraordinary  abundance  of  money,  which  was  spread  in  this 
manner  through  the  United  Provinces. 

In  1670,  the  city  of  Amsterdam  had  reduced  the  interest 
paid  to  public  creditors,  to  4  and  3^  per  cent.  In  1684,  she 
again  reduced  it  to  05  and  3  per  cent.,  offering  to  repay  the 
capital  to  all  those  who  would  not  accept  this  forced  reduc- 
tion.* The  rich  refugees,  however,  none  the  less  for  that, 
continued  to  prefer  that  investment  to  any  other ;  so  much 
so,  that,  in  1686,  the  city  passed  to  their  account  life  an- 
nuities to  the  amount  of  150,000  florins.  In  1687,  it  be- 
came difficult  to  make  money  in  Amsterdam  produce  above 
two  per  cent,  interest.!  At  Rotterdam,  from  the  year  1685, 
the:  treasury  was  authorized  to  receive  any  sums  which  the 
refugees  might  think  good  to  intrust  to  the  city,  and  to  pay 
them  eo[uitable  interest  so  long  as  they  should  reside  within 

*  Berg,  p.  218. 

f  Dispatch  of  the  Count  d'Avanx,  Oct.  22,  IBST. 


WEALTH    WITHDRAWN    FROM    FRANCE.  27 

the  walls.*  In  Friseland,  Lenoir  de  Monfreton,  and  some 
of  his  comrades  in  exile,  offered  the  states  of  the  province  a 
capital  of  a  million,  for  which  they  asked  only  the  ordinary 
interest.!  The  wealth  of  the  refugees,  therefore,  sufficed  to 
raise  the  public  credit,  and  thus  compensated  in  some  degree 
for  the  temporary  sacrifices  which  Holland  imposed  on  her- 
self, in  order  to  comfort  those  who  were  in  distress. 

In  1709,  the  children  of  Paul  Bennelle,  a  French  refugee 
at  Amsterdam,  drew  up  a  memoir,  by  which  they  established 
the  fact,  that  the  subjects  of  Louis  XIV.  had  already  re- 
ceived above  1,400,000  florins,  arising  from  the  properties  of 
their  parents,  who  had  died  in  the  Low  Countries.  On  Oc- 
tober 23d  of  that  year,  the  States  General  decreed,  that  in 
future  the  subjects  of  the  King  should  not  inherit  from 
parents  deceased  on  Dutch  territory.  This  decision  was 
founded  on  this  ;  that  the  right  of  reciprocity  guaranteed 
by  the  treaty  of  Nimeguen,  as  regards  this  head,  had  not  been 
observed  by  France. :]:  During  several  years  the  republic 
itself  was  sole  heir  of  the  possessions,  often  in  themselves 
very  considerable,  of  the  refugees.  The  Peace  of  Utrecht 
brought  these  very  unjust  reprisals  to  a  conclusion,  and  the 
natural  order  of  successions  was  re-established  between  the 
two  countries.  § 

Of  what  elements,  again,  was  the  Dutch  emigration  to 
Holland  composed  ?  What  were  the  men  whom  France  re- 
jected from  her  bosom,  and  who  ere  long  exerted  so  vast  an 
influence  over  the  destiny  of  the  nations  which  received 
them  ? 

In  the  first  rank,  figured  not  less  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  pastors,  learned  no  less  than  zealous.     Among  them 

*  See  the  Register  of  the  Burgomasters  of  Rotterdam.     Resolu- 
tions of  Xov.  19,  1685. 

f  Dispatch  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  March  18,  1686. 
.  X  Memoirs  of  Erman  and  Reclam,  vol.  vii.  p.  829. 
§  Kcenen,  p.  3. 


28  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

several  bore  names  bj  no  means  without  distinction.  Let 
us  be  content  with  citing  a  Menard,  who  soon  became  court 
preacher  to  William  III.  ;  a  Claude,  esteemed  worthy  to  be 
weighed  against  Bossuet ;  a  Jurieu,  whose  burning  letters 
cast  remorse  into  the  souls  of  those  Protestants,  who  re- 
mained in  France,  and  announced  in  prophetic  terms  the  ap- 
proaching fall  of  the  Romish  Church  ;  a  Basnage,  illustrious 
under  so  many  divers  titles,  to  whom  the  misfortune  of  his 
exiled  co-religionists  inspired  that  noble  book,  in  which  he  de- 
scribes the  condition  of  the  people  of  God,  while  wandering 
over  the  earth  ;  a  Martin,  who  translated  into  language  at  once 
elegant  and  correct,  the  Bible,  sole  jewel  of  so  many  exiles  ; 
a  Superville,  to  whom  public  education  in  Holland  owes  a 
catechism,  which  is  not  yet  out  of  date  ;  a  Benoit,  who  com- 
posed the  history  of  the  Revocation  ;  a  Du  Bosc,  who  so 
touchingly  described  the  marks  by  which  the  children  of 
Heaven  may  be  recognized,  likening  the  miseries  of  the  refu- 
gees to  those  of  the  first  Christians.*  They  were,  indeed, 
true  exiles,  very  outlaws ;  driven  from  France  by  order  of  the 
King,  they  could  not  re-enter  the  land,  except  on  pain  of 
death.  They  had  striven  to  separate  the  shepherds  from  the 
flocks,  but  they  had  been  reassembled  in  the  land  of  exile. 

To  the  preachers  must  be  added  a  large  body  of  gentle- 
men, natives  of  the  southern  provinces ;  brave  officers,  who 
condemned  themselves  for  an  apostasy  forced  on  them  by 
military  discipline  ;  rich  and  able  merchants  of  Amiens, 
Rouen,  Bordeaux,  and  most  of  all  from  the  city  of  Nantes, 
the  scene  of  the  barbarous  dragoonings ;  artisans  of  Brittany 
and  Normandy  ;  agriculturists  of  Provence,  of  the  shores  of 
Languedoc,  of  Roussillon,  and  La  Guienne  ;  mechanics,  in  a 
word,  from  every  part  of  France,  mostly  Protestants,  a  few 
Catholics,  so  much  attached  to  their  masters  as  even  to  fol- 
low them  to  a  foreign  land.      Thus,  there  were  collected  on 

*  See  the  Treatise  on  the  Character  of  the  Children  of  God,  by  Du 
Bosc 


NUMBER    OP    REFUGEES.  29 

the  hospitable  banks  of  the  Amstel,  a  Pierre  Bailly,  the 
richest  manufacturer  of  Clermont-Lodeve,  a  Pineau,  of 
Nimes,  a  Dinant  Laures,  of  Nantes,  celebrated  artificers,  who 
were  about  to  transport  into  Holland  their  trades,  brought 
to  the  utmost  perfection ;  a  Goulon,  rival  of  Vauban's 
glory ;  gentlemen  of  noble  birth,  simple  mechanics,  ministers 
of  high  renown. 

Of  all  the  lands,  which  gave  asylum  to  the  refugees,  none 
received  such  swarms  as  the  republic  of  Holland  ;  where- 
fore, it  is  called  by  Bayle,  "the  grand  arch  of  the  refu 
gees."  *  There  no  longer  exists  any  documents,  by  which 
their  number  can  be  exactly  computed.  The  Abbe  Cavei- 
rac,  who  is  not  suspected  of  exaggeration,  esteemed  it  at 
55,000. t  An  agent  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  admitted  to  the 
confidence  of  Claude  and  the  principal  chiefs  of  "the  refuge," 
wrote,  in  1686,  that  the  lists  of  the  voluntary  French  exiles 
amounted  to  nearly  75,000  souls.  J  But  the  emigration  con- 
tinued yet  several  years,  and  the  number  of  fugitives  aug- 
mented in  such  manner,  until  toward  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  that,  1698,  the  States  General  supplicated 
the  King  of  Sweden,  Charles  XII.,  to  take  charge,  for  the 
future,  of  the  newly-arrived  emigrants,  and  to  allot  to  them 
lands  in  his  German  territories.  "  The  United  Provinces," 
thus  they  wrote  to  that  Prince,  "  are  so  crowded  with  them 
that  they  have  no  longer  the  means  of  supporting  the  new 
arrivals."  ^  The  towns,  which  contained  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  them,  are  Amsterdam,  Rotterdam,  and  the  Hague. 
At   Amsterdam,    in    the    month  of  March,   1684,    a   year 

*  Bayle.     Historical  and  Critical  Dictionary.     Art.  Kuehlin. 

f  Political  and  Critical  Memoir,  p.  88.  Quoted  after  the  Library 
of  Arts  and  Sciences,  vol.  xiv.  p.  163.     The  Hague.  1760. 

X  Letter  of  Tillieres  to  the  Count  d'Avaux.     May  24,  1685. 

§  Nostra  quidem  terra,  quae  tarn  angustis  circumscribitur  limiti- 
bus,  tot  repleta  est  ex  Gallia  religionis  causa  profugis,  ut  plures  alere 
nequeat.     See  Koenen,  p.  96.     Note. 


30  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

and  a  half  after  the  Revocation,  there  were  already  to  be 
enumerated  more  than  two  thousand,  and  many  more  had 
departed  for  the  colony  of  Surinam.  These  were  men  be- 
longing to  all  classes  of  society — men  of  letters  and  of  arms, 
laymen  and  preachers,  traders  and  mechanics,  manufacturers 
and  sailors.*  Above  all,  there  were  among  them  able  work- 
men, whose  trades  were  previously  unknown  in  Holland. f 
This  first  colony  increased  rapidly.  Already,  in  1685,  the 
Count  de  Saint  Didier  wrote  to  Louis  XIV.,  that  there  were 
5000  refugees  in  Rotterdam,  and  a  much  larger  number 
in  x\msterdam.  J  From  that  epoch,  the  French  deanery  of 
that  city  constantly  supported  2000  paupers,  who  were  con- 
tinually maintained  up  to  that  number  by  the  arrival  of  new 
emigrants,  who  were  admitted  in  the  room  of  those  who 
were  henceforth  found  able  to  provide  for  themselves,  after 
receiving  succor  on  their  first  arrival. §  Toward  the  end  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  the  colony  amounted  to  14  or  15,000 
men,  established  for  the  most  part  in  the  quarter  which  they 
called  the  Garden,  and  which,  to  this  day,  bears  the  name  of 
Jordan.  They  peopled  the  streets,  cross-streets,  and  quays 
with  roses,  carnations,  sweet-briers,  and  flowers  of  all  kinds.  || 
Others  established  themselves  in  the  quarter  of  the  New 
Plantation,  and  in  that  of  the  Nordsche  Bosch,  which  now 
contains  the  quay  des  Reguliers  and  des  Mortiers,  the  streets 
du  Nord,  Traversiere  du  Nord,  and  des  Tanneurs.^  It  is 
not  possible  to  state,  with  more  precision,  the  number  of  the 
refugees  who  came  to  Rotterdam  and  the  Hague.  Every 
thing,  however,  leads  to  the  belief  that  it  did  not  fall  much 

*  See  the  letter  of  Scion,  quoted  above.  f  Ibidem. 

X  Dispatcli  of  M.  St.  Didier,  Nov.  15,  1685. 

§  Archives  of  the  Town  Hall  at  Amsterdam.  Document  relative 
to  the  French  Refugees.     Box  5-55. 

I  We  credit  these  facts  to  M.  Mourier,  Pastor  of  Amsterdam,  him- 
self descended  from  the  refugees. 

Tf  Berg,  p.  S3. 


SETTLEMENTS    OF    REFUGEES.  31 

short  of  that  of  Amsterdam.  At  Leyclen  and  Harlaem, 
which  became  two  centres  of  their  industry,  they  formed  col- 
onies, which  continued  to  increase  during  the  last  fifteen 
years  of  the  seventeenth  century.  In  the  first  of  these  towns 
the  quarter  of  Hoogewoerd  was  enlarged  for  their  accommo- 
dation. In  the  second,  they  almost  entirely  peopled  the 
suburb  of  Nieuwstadt,  begun  in  1672  ;  and  the  population  of 
the  place,  theretofore  inconsiderable,  rose  in  1722  to  nearly 
forty  thousand  souls.*  Others  established  themselves  at 
Delft,  Grouda,  Schoonhoven,  Schiedam,  Briel,  and  Dordrecht. 
The  relative  importance  of  these  several  groups  of  refu- 
gees may  be  easily  judged  bythe  number  of  pastors  assign- 
ed to  each.  In  1686,  the  States  of  Holland,  on  the  propo- 
sition of  the  Walloon  Synod,  decided  that  they  would  allot 
sixteen  to  Amsterdam,  seven  to  Dordrecht,  seven  to  Har- 
laem, six  to  Delft,  eight  to  Ley  den,  and  five  to  Grouda.f  The 
towns  of  Schiedam,  of  Schoonhoven,  and  of  Briel,  each  re- 
ceived two.  In  Zealand,  the  refugees  distributed  them- 
selves among  the  towns  of  Middleburgh,  Flushing,  Thoelen, 
Groes,  Yeere,  and  Zirick-zee.  Middleburgh  saw  its  popula- 
tion increased,  in  the  interval  between  1685  and  1693,  by 
five  hundred  and  sixty-two  French  admitted  to  the  right  of 
burghership.  Less  numerous  colonies  were  formed  at  Sluys, 
at  Walcheren,  at  Groede,  at  Ardemburgh,  and  at  Cadsand.J 
Cattle-breeding  and  boat-building,  whether  for  navigation 
or  fisheries,  which  afi'orded  the  means  of  subsistence  for  most 
of  the  inhabitants  of  those  provinces,  were  scarcely  suited  to 
the  refugees.  In  eastern  Friseland,  they  dispersed  them- 
selves among  the  towns  of  Leeuwarden,  of  Franeker,  of 
Harlingen,  of  Bolswerd,  of  Sneck,  where  they  united  them- 
selves to  the  old  Walloon  bodies  corporate,  and  in  the 
great  village  of  Balk,  in  which  they  formed  a  special  com- 
munity. ^    The  states  of  Groningen  granted  twelve  preachers 

*  Koenen,  p.  271.  f  Berg.  p.  46. 

X  Dress  elhuis,  p.  86,  87.  §  Koenen,  p.  9Y. 


32  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

to  those  who  established  themselves  iu  their  province.  The 
town  of  Groningen  itself  saw  a  flourishing  colony  formed 
within  its  very  walls,  the  first  origin  of  which  was,  however, 
anterior  to  the  revocation. 

The  northern  provinces,  Holland,  Zealand,  Friseland  and 
Groningen,  were  principally  peopled  by  fugitives  who  came 
to  them  from  over  sea.  Those  who  preferred  the  land  route 
generally  established  themselves  iu  the  southern  districts, 
such  as  Guelders,  whither  the  cities  lof  Arnheim,  Nimeguen, 
and  Zutphen,  attracted  large  crowds,  and  Over- Yssel,  where 
many  settled  in  the  towns  of  ZwoUe  and  Deventer.  iVt 
Utrecht,  they  founded  a  colowy  directed  by  two  ministers. 
Those  of  Maestricht  were  composed,  in  16S7,  of  five  hundred 
and  fifty  heads  of  families,  all,  or  almost  all,  natives  of 
Sedan.*  In  northern  Brabant,  French  communities  were 
formed  at  Bois-le-Duc,  and  some  villages  of  the  ancient 
Duchy  of  Breda.  This  little  territory,  which  belonged  to 
the  House  of  Orange,  served  as  an  asylum  for  many  Protest- 
ants from  the  town  of  Orange,  whom  the  Prince  treated  with 
distinguished  favor.f  In  16S8,  so  many  as  sixty-two 
churches  were  counted  in  the  United  Provinces,  founded,  or 
considerably  augmented,  by  the  refugees  ;  J  thus  an  entirely 
new  class  of  citizens  was  added  to  the  natives,  whom  it 
greatly  modified,  and  over  whom  it  exercised  an  influence  no 
less  fruitful  than  durable. 

The  establishment  of  French  Protestants  in  the  United 
Provinces  dates  back  so  far  as  to  the  first  persecutions,  which 
terminated  in  the  revocation,  and  came  to  a  conclusion  near- 
ly iu  the  year  1715,  when  the  States  General  granted  to  all 
the  new  citizens  letters  of  naturalization.  During  that  in- 
terval, three  partial  emigrations  were  added  to  the  great 
emigration  of  1 685.     First,  the  devastation  of  the  Palatinate, 

*  Letters  of  Tilli^res  to  the  Count  d'Avaux,  of  February  12th, 
1687  :  Archives  of  the  Department  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
f  Koeuen,  p.  98.  .»  ;}:  Ibidem. 


SUCCESSIVE    EMIGRATIONS.  33 

in  1689,  compelled  a  vast  number  of  families,  established 
in  that  province  within  three  years,  to  seek  a  second  and 
safer  asylum  in  Holland.  Then,  when  in  1703  Louis  XIV. 
took  possession  of  the  principality  of  Orange,  and  banished 
thence  the  reformed  worship,  many  of  the  faithful  abandon- 
ed their  enslaved  land,  and  retired  into  the  Low  Countries. 
At  length,  when  the  Peace  of  Utrecht  had  replaced  Lille 
and  its  territories  under  French  domination,  numerous 
Protestant  families,  which  had  freely  exercised  their  wor- 
ship under  the  protection  of  the  armies  of  the  coalition, 
expatriated  themselves,  and  following  those  armies,  reunited 
themselves  with  the  French  communities  of  the  United  Pro- 
vinces. 

For  a  long  time  the  refugees  continued  to  hope  for  their 
recall  into  France,  and  for  the  re-establishment  of  the  Edict 
of  Henry  IV.  They  reckoned  on  the  interference  of  Pro- 
testant powers,  and  at  the  period  of  the  Conference  of  Rys- 
wick,  the  French  preachers  of  London  entered  into  corre- 
spondence with  Jurieu  to  work  in  concert  toward  that  great 
end.  But  the  imperative  necessities  of  politics  caured  this 
attempt  to  restore  so  many  exiles  to  their  native  land  to  un- 
dergo a  total  shipwreck.  In  spite  of  the  earnest  eiforts  of 
the  pastor  of  Rotterdam,  the  new  King  of  England,  and  the 
States  General  of  Holland,  insisted  but  weakly  with  Louis 
XIV.,  who  rejected  their  interference  with  the  internal 
affairs  of  his  monarchy,  and  refused  so  much  as  to  discuss  a 
proposition,  which  he  esteemed  injurious  to  his  royal  prerog- 
ative. The  humble  supplication  of  the  London  refugees,  to 
which  was  united  that  of  those  of  the  United  Provinces,  met 
no  better  reception  from  the  persecuting  King.  A  memoir 
presented  to  the  ministers  plenipotentiary  of  France,  on  the 
eve  of  the  signature  of  the  treaty,  by  the  representatives  of 
the  Protestant  principles  of  Germany,  was  not  received  more 
favorably.  The  reverses  of  Louis  XIV.,  during  the  wars 
for  the  Spanish  succession,  gave  a  last  glimmer  of  hope  to 

VOL.  II. — 2* 


34  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

the  eyes  of  the  refugees.  When,  in  1709,  the  Marquis  of 
Torcy  brought  propositions  of  peace  to  the  Hague,  they 
again  supplicated  the  States  General  to  interpose  in  their 
favor.  A  memorial,  drafted  by  the  Marquis  of  Hochegude, 
was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  commission  charged  to  deliver 
a  report  thereof  to  the  National  Assembly.  But  the  neces- 
sities of  the  allies  caused  the  failure  of  the  negotiations 
opened  at  the  Hague  and  Gertrudenbergh.  The  refugees 
renewed  their  protestations,  which  received  less  and  less  at- 
tention, during  the  conferences  which  preceded  the  Treaty 
of  Utrecht,  but  they  were  rejected  with  the  same  firmness 
as  at  the  Peace  of  Ryswick,  and  they  then  lost  every  hope 
of  return. 

But  if  Popish  France  showed  that  she  had  no  bowels 
for  her  exiled  children,  they  found  in  Holland  a  new  country, 
which  in  the  end  solemnly  adopted,  and  amalgamated  them 
with  her  own  citizens.  The  right  of  citizenship  was  granted 
in  three  different  manners,  and  was  divided  into  three  de- 
grees. Sometimes,  strangers  admitted  to  this  right  were 
only  entitled  to  the  free  practice  of  their  trades,  without  be- 
ing received  into  the  corporations.  Sometimes  they  obtained 
the  right  of  secondary  burghership,  which  permitted  them 
to  engage  in  commerce.  Lastly,  those  who  were  most  highly 
favored,  were  raised  to  the  full  right  of  citizenship,  with  the 
privilege,  after  a  residence  of  a  certain  number  of  years,  of 
filling  all  public  ofiices.  The  Jews,  who  had  arrive.d  from 
foreign  parts,  were  placed  in  the  first  scale  of  this  hierarchy 
of  unequal  privileges ;  the  French  refugees  occupied  the  se- 
cond ;  and,  when  the  distinction  between  first  and  second 
citizenship  was  suppressed  in  some  towns,  the  latter  found 
themselves  placed  on  terms  of  perfect  equality  with  the  na- 
tives. In  1625  a  Frenchman,  expatriated  for  religion's  sake, 
had  been,  the  first  of  his  compatriots,  naturalized  a  Hol- 
lander. In  1687  a  Rocheller,  Peter  Brevet  by  name,  received 
the  same  favor.     In  1709,  the  same  year  when  Queen  Anne 


GENERAL    NATURALIZATION.  35 

granted  letters  of  naturalization  to  all  the  foreigners  in  Eng- 
land, the  states  of  Holland  and  Friselan*d  adopted  a  similar 
measure,  and  granted  the  title  of  citizen  to  all  those  who 
were  already   settled  in  the  two  provinces.        The   motives 
which  prompted  them  to  this  great  duty  deserve  to  be  cited  in 
this  work.     "  Considering,"  said  they,  "  that  the  prosperity 
of  a  state  rests  on  the  number  of  its  citizens,  and  that  these 
provinces,  especially,  have   seen  their  wealth  augmented  by 
the  arrival  of  the   French,  driven  from  their  own  country, 
for  their  attachment  to  a  faith  which  is  common  to  us  and  to 
them ;  considering,  also,  that  they  have  caused  our  commerce 
and  manufactures  to  flourish,  and  that,  moreover,  they  have 
long  merited  by  their  conduct  the  most  favorable  treatment, 
and  that,  consequently,  it  is  just  that  they  should  be  assimi- 
lated in  all  respects  to  other  citizens,  we  hereby  declare  them 
naturalized  Hollanders."  *     The  representative  assembly  of 
Gruelders  adopted,  in  the  same  year,  a  resolution  similar  to 
that  of  West  Friseland  and  Holland. f     Their  example  was 
followed  by  Zealand  in  1710.  J     And  to  conclude,  in   1715, 
the  States   General,  resting  their  ground  on  the   decree  of 
1709,  extended   the  benefits  thereof  to  all  the  provinces  of 
the  republic. §     Thus  all  distinction  'was,  henceforth,  effaced 
between  the   new  and  native  citizens.     The  former  even  yet 
preserved  some  rights  which  had  been  granted  to  them  in  the 
first  years  of  the  emigration.     These  were  successively  abol- 
ished in  the  interval  between  1690  and  1720,  leaving  however, 
with  the  Burgomasters  of  Amsterdam,  the  power  of  grant- 
ing similar  favors  to  such  new  fugitives  as  might  come,  from 
time  to  time,  to  ask  an  asylum  in  the  United  Provinces. 

*  Groot  Plakaatbook,  vol.  v.  fol.  74.  Quoted  after  Koenen,  p.  109, 

f  Koenen,  p.  109. 

:j:  Dresselhuis,  p.  84,  85. 

§  Kcenen,  p.  110. 


CHAPTER    II. 

OF   THE   POLITICAL  rNTLUENCE    OF   THE    EEFIJGEES    IN    HOLLAISTD^ 

The  KepuWican  and  Orangeist  parties— Politics  of  ilie  Count  d' A vaux— Effect  of  the 
revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  on  the  minds  of  men — Diminished  influence 
of  the  Count  d'Avaux— Increasing  influence  of  the  Prince  of  Orange — Part 
taken  by  the  Eefugees  in  the  Coalition  of  16S9 — Brousson — Moral  support  lent 
by  the  Eefugees  to  the  Prince's  expedition  against  England— Jurieu— Pecu- 
niar}^ support — Military  support — Oath  taken  by  the  Military  llefagees — Services 
of  Eefugee  officers  in  the  Dutch  Armies — General  Belcastel — Other  distinguished 
officers — Oflacers  of  Marine— Services  rendered  to  the  Dutch  Navy — The  sons 
of  Admiral  Duquesne — Political  writings  of  the  Eefugees — Jacques  Basnage — 
His  relations  with  the  Duke  of  Orleans, 

In  Holland,  as  in  England  and  Germany,  the  refugees 
exercised  a  powerful  influence  in  relation  to  politics  and 
war,  literature  and  religion,  and  industry  and  commerce. 
We  will  endeavor  to  estimate  them  under  these  three  dis- 
tinct points  of  view. 

Contrary  to  every  expectation,  the  Hollandish  republic 
had  survived  the  formidable  invasion  of  1672.  The  Prince 
of  Orange,  stronger  than  John  de  Witt,  and  more  able  than 
Van  Benningen,  had  checked  the  good  fortune  of  Louis 
XIV.  That  general  of  twenty-two  years  of  age,  who  had 
undertaken  to  make  head  against  the  greatest  king  on  earth, 
as  his  debut,  concealed  an  energetic  mind  and  an  indomita- 
ble will  in  a  feeble  and  debilitated  body.  The  cool  obsti- 
nacy of  his  grandfather  the  "  Taciturn,"  the  adversary  of 
Philip  II.,  and  the  founder  of  the  liberty  of  the  United 
Provinces,  could  be  discovered  in  him.  He  hated  France, 
as  his  ancestor  had  hated  Spain.     We  are  assured,  that  at 


POLICY    OF    WILLIAM    OF    ORANGE.  37 

the  peace  of  Nimeguen,  when  he  endeavored  to  surprise  the 
Marshal  de  Luxembourg  at  Mons,  he  had  been  already  in- 
formed of  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty ;  but  he  wished  at  all 
hazards  to  break  it,  and  rekindle  the  war  between  France 
and  Europe  in  coalition  against  her.     For  the  first  time  had 
Louis  XIY.  encountered  an  adversary  worthy  of  him.     The 
intimate  union  which  existed  between  the  republic  and  the 
Stadtholder,  had    created    a   barrier  sufficiently   strong  to 
place  a  limit  to  his  conquests.     All  the  efforts  of  the  French 
government,  therefore,  were  directed  towards  breaking  that 
good  understanding.     This  was   the  great  task  which  was 
imposed  upon  the   Count  d'Avaux,  when   he  was  sent  as 
ambassador  to  the  Hague  in  1679.     Two  parties  then  dis- 
puted the  direction  of  affairs  in  Holland  :    the   republican 
party,  which  consisted  of  the  ruins  of  the  partisans  of  the 
brothers  De  Witt,  and  all  those  who  had  been  dispossessed 
of  power  in  1672,  and  the  Stadtholder  party,  which  was  de- 
voted to  the  House  of  Orange.      The  power  which  was  the 
least  numerous,  but   sustained  by  the  richest  merchants  of 
Amsterdam,   desired    the   maintenance   of   the    peace   with 
Louis  XIV.,  and  the   re-establishment   of  the  ancient   tra- 
ditional understanding  between  France  and  the  Netherlands. 
The  Prince  of  Orange,  on  the  contrary,  sought  to  unite  the 
Dutch  republic  with  England,  freed   from   the  yoke  of  the 
Stuarts,  in  a  common  alliance,  and  thus  to  lay  the  foundation 
of  a  new  European  coalition  against  the  great  khig.      While 
endeavoring  to  cause  this  bold  policy  to  prevail,  he  strove 
to  gain  over  to  his  views  the  most  eminent  members  of  the 
States  General,  by  proving  to  them  that  a  guarantee    was 
given  to  the  treaty  of  Nimeguen  by  the  reconciliation  be- 
tween the  two  countries.     He,  however,  carefully  concealed 
from  them  his  ulterior  designs ;   and,  above  all.  enveloped 
his   projects  upon  the  throne  of  England  in  impenetrable 
mystery.      While   he   agitated  with   that  view,   the    Count 
d'Avaux    strove  with  rare  skill  to  create  a  French  party  in 


38  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

the  assembly  which  presided  over  the  destinies  of  Holland. 
Experimenting  upon  the  political  tendencies  of  the  repub- 
licans to  the  profit  of  Louis  XIV.,  he  spared  neither  pro- 
mises, nor  money,  and  succeeded  in  gaining  many  of  the 
most  influential  deputies.  He  oifered  as  much  as  two 
millions  of  florins  to  the  pensionary  councillor  Fagel,  the 
most  devoted  friend  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  to  persuade 
him  to  enter  into  the  interests  of  his  master;*  but  Fagel 
was  immovable  in  his  fidelity.  The  powerful  and  respected 
magistrate  of  Amsterdam  had  a  marked  preponderance  in 
the  States  of  Holland,  whose  example  was  almost  always 
followed  by  the  other  provinces.  The  Count  d'Avaux  neg- 
lected nothing  in  order  to  attach  him  to  himself.  To  suc- 
ceed the  better  in  his  design,  he  worked  only  in  the  dark,  and 
disguised  skilfully  every  thing  which  was  odious  in  his  plan.f 
A  serious  opposition  was  soon  formed  in  the  States  General, 
and  more  than  once  the  Prince  saw  them  reject  propositions 
which  were  in  conformity  with  the  European  policy  which 
he  endeavored  to  make  them  accept,  and  in  conformity  also 
with  the  true  interest  of  Holland,  but  which  exacted  from 
that  little  country,  and  in  particular  from  the  mercantile 
town  of  Amsterdam,  sacrifices  which  all  were  not  prepared 
to  make  to  their  country.  The  egotism  natural  to  the 
proprietary  classes,  and  the  sectional  spirit  which  is  inhe- 
rent in  federal  states,  served  as  a  lever  to  the  French  am- 
bassador ;  and,  although  he  did  not  draw  from  it  all  possible 
advantage,  nevertheless,  in  proportion  as  the  policy  of  the 
Prince  took  a  bolder  and  more  personal  character,  he  gained 
ground.  He  believed  himself  already  sure  of  the  victory, 
and,  in  fact,  he  had  perhaps  arrived  at  the  end  of  his  per- 
severing efforts,  when  an  unexpected  event  broke  the  woof 
of  his  long  intrigues  ;  and  that  event  was  the  work  of  Louis 
XIV.  himself,  who  had  so  powerful  an  interest  in  seconding 

*  Koenen,  p.  125. 

\  Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  i.  p.  7. 


OBSTINACY    OF    LOUIS    XIV.  39 

his  representative,  but  whose  habitually  clear  mind  was  then 
obscured  by  the  pursuit  of  the  chimera  of  religious  unity  in 
his  kingdom. 

The  correspondence  of  the  Count  d'Avaux  proves,  with 
the  greatest  clearness  the  profound  vexation  with  which 
that  able  diplomatist  saw  all  the  fruit  of  his  negotiations 
and  secret  practices  perish,  through  the  impression  which 
the  news  of  the  persecutions  in  France  produced,  and  by 
the  arrival  of  living  witnesses  to  the  intolerance  of  Louis 
XIV.  He  had  already  written  on  the  24th  of  July,  1681, 
with  regard  to  the  edict  relative  to  the  children  of  the  Re- 
formed :  "  This  edict  has  caused  alteration  enough,  and 
especially  in  the  minds  of  the  gentlemen  from  Friseland,  so 
that  M.  de  Haren,  who  had  always  been  a  friend  to  France, 
and  was  openly  opposed  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  has  said 
in  the  assembly  of  the  States  Greneral,  that  since  it  was  the 
design  of  France  entirely  to  ruin  their  religion,  there  was  no 
longer  room  for  accommodation.  .  .  .  He  has  showed  in 
particular  to  the  deputies  from  Friseland  and  Grroningen 
that,  although  it  might  be  contrary  to  their  interest  to 
become  subject  to  England,  and  to  submit  to  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  nevertheless,  since  it  was  the  desire  of  France  to 
destroy  their  religion,  it  would  be  necessary  in  the  end  to  ally 
themselves  with  Charles  II.,  and  that  he  was  sure  of  being 
able  to  persuade  the  province  of  Friseland  in  three  weeks  to 
adopt  these  views.  .  .  I  was  advised  of  these  discourses, 
and  of  M.  de  Haren's  change  of  opinion,  by  two  deputies  of 
Friseland  and  Grroningen.  This  obliged  me  to  go  to  his 
house.  I  put  myself  on  the  ground  of  the  religion,  and  what 
was  doing  in  France  with  respect  to  it.  But  all  that  I  could 
say  to  make  him  know  that  your  Majesty  was  doing  nothing 
contrary  to  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  although  I  twisted  it  in 
every  way  to  make  him  speak,  I  could  draw  nothing  from 
him  except  that  the  King  was  the  master  to  do  as  he  pleas- 
ed in  his  own  kingdom."  * 

*  Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  i.  pp.  152,  153. 


40  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

On  the  9tli  of  March,  1685,  he  wrote  to  Louis  XIV. :  "  I 
have  discovered  to-day,  that  they  are  working  to  reconcile 
the  Priuce  of  Orange  and  the  Prince  of  Nassau.  The 
minister  Vandervaye,  who  has  been  so  much  opposed  to  this 
reconciliation,  has  been  for  the  last  two  days  very  secretly 
occupied  at  the  Hague.  The  reasons,  which  have  caused 
that  man  to  act,  are  produced  by  what  is  passing  in  France 
on  the  subject  of  the  pretended  reformed  religion."  *  He 
added,  on  the  •22d  of  the  following  March  :  "  The  affairs  of 
the  French  religionists  have  caused  chagrin  to  some  persons 
of  Amsterdam ;  but  they  have  not  as  yet  made  sufficient  im- 
pression upon  the  general  minds  of  those  who  are  concerned 
in  the  government  of  that  city,  to  make  them  change  their 
line  of  conduct.  I  am  nevertheless  obliged  to  inform  your 
Majesty,  that  the  preaching  ministers,  and  the  reports  which 
are  sent  from  France,  have  embittered  them  so  much,  that  I 
know  not  what  may  arrive  in  consequence."  f 

The  magistrates  of  the  city  of  Leyden  were  opposed  to 
the  Prince  of  Orange.  The  revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes  made  them  change  their  ojDinion.l  The  burgomas- 
ters of  Amsterdam,  after  long  hesitation,  followed  the  ex- 
ample of  those  of  Leyden.  "  They  caused  it  to  be  under- 
stood," wrote  the  Count  d'Avaux,  "that  it  was  the  affairs 
of  the  French  Huguenots,  which  had  impelled  them  to  recon- 
cile themselves  with  the  Prince  of  Orange.  It  is  true  that 
that  reason  had  animated  some  among  them,  who  were  the 
most  zealous  for  the  religion.  It  is  certain  that  it  also  serv- 
ed as  a  pretext  for  the  weakness  of  some  others,  who  were 
not  sorry  to  become  reconciled,  and  to  profit  by  that  occa- 
sion, seeing  that  the  public,  which  was  excited  by  the  decla- 
mations of  the  French  ministers,  and  by  the  false  reports 
of  those  refugees,  showed  great  animosity."  § 

*  Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avcaux,  vol.  iv.  pp.  294,295. 
f  Ibid.  vol.  iv.  pp.  319,  320-  X  ^^^^-  ^^^-  ^-  V-  3  8*7. 

§  Ibid.  vol.  V.  p.  191, 


EFFECT    OF    THE    PERSECUTIONS    IN    HOLLAND.  41 

The  report  spread  by  the  Prince  of  Orange,  that  Louis 
XIV.  demanded  the  extradition  of  all  the  Huguenots,  who 
had  withdrawn  into  the  Seven  Provinces,  influenced  even  the 
elections,  which  a  few  months  afterward  renewed  the  magis- 
tracy of  that  city.  "  Among  the  four  burgomasters  of  Am- 
sterdam," the  Count  d'Avaux  wrote  upon  that  subject,  "  the 
two  new  ones,  who  are  perhaps  the  two  best  that  could  have 
been  chosen,  have  the  fault  of  being  very  zealous  for  their 
religion,  so  much  so,  that  one  of  them  said,  three  weeks  be- 
fore, to  one  of  his  friends,  that  he  had  always  been  of  opinion 
that  the  republic  could  not  exist  without  a  strict  alliance 
with  France  ;  but  since,  at  that  hour,  he  saw  how  it  treated 
those  of  his  religion,  he  would  be  the  first  to  take  any  other 
measures.* 

Finally,  on  the  10th  of  June,  1688,  at  the  very  moment 
when  Louis  XIV.  was  preparing  to  advance  his  armies  to 
the  Rhine,  in  the  hope  of  thus  preventing  the  Prince  of 
Orange  from  leaving  Holland,  and  going  Jo  dethrone  his 
father-in-law,  the  Count  d'Avaux  sent  him  this  significant 
dispatch  :  "  I  am  obliged  to  inform  your  Majesty,  that  it  is 
greatly  to  be  apprehended,  that  the  Prince  of  Orange  will 
obtain  succors  from  the  States  General,  which  he  could  not 
formerly  have  done.  But  he  has  made  so  good  a  use  of  the 
pretext  of  religion,  and  all  the  French  fugitives  have  so  great- 
ly inflamed  the  Calvinists  of  that  country,  that  one  dare  not 
promise  that  the  States  will  adhere  to  their  true  interests  as 
they  would  formerly  have  done."t 

It  then  remains  proved,  that  the  revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes,  and  the  dragoonings  which  preceded  and  follow- 
ed that  fatal  measure;,  disconcerted  the  astute  calculations 
of  the  French  ambassador  at  the  Hague.  The  disunion 
which  he  had  fomented,  disappeared  before  the  imminence 

*  Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  v.  pp.  231,  232. 
f  Dispatch   of  June  10th,    1688.     Archives   of  the   Ministry   of 
French  Foreii^n  Affairs. 


42  FRENCH   PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

of  the  peril  which  the  "  reform "  ran  in  France,  England, 
and  Holland,  at  the  same  time,  and  the  happy  accord  of  all 
classes  of  the  nation  was  re-established  by  the  prince,  who 
was  considered  the  representative  and  defender  pf  the  Pro- 
testant Church,  and  the  irreconcilable  antagonist  of  the 
persecuting  monarch.  Being  tranquil  upon  that  head, 
William  of  Orange  could  thenceforth  pursue  a  more  elevated 
aim.  It  does  not  enter  into  the  plan  of  this  work  to  explain 
the  methods,  by  the  aid  of  which  the  prince,  with  that  pa- 
tient confidence  which  true  genius  inspires,  prepared,  during 
ten  years,  his  accession  to  the  throne  of  England.  We  will 
content  ourselves  with  exhibiting  the  part  which  the  refu- 
gees took  on  that  occasion. 

William  of  Orano-e  was  the  true  author  of  the  Leao-ue  of 

o  o 

Augsburgh,  which  paved  the  way  to  the  European  coalition 
of  1689.  But  the  first  thought  of  that  league  belongs  to  a 
refugee,  one  Brousson,  who  was  established  at  Lausanne, 
and  was  deputy  from  his  companions  in  exile  to  the  Pro- 
testant powers  of  the  North  of  Europe.  He  entered  succes- 
sively into  relation  with  the  pensionary  Fagel,  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  and  the  elector  Frederic  AYilliam.  It  was  at  Berlin 
that  he  communicated  to  the  two  princes  the  plan  of  a  Pro- 
testant confederation  against  Louis  XIV. ,  and  from  that 
project  sprang  the  League  of  Augsburgh,  which  united  in  a 
common  resistance  the  Reformed  and  Bomish  states,  which 
were  equally  alarmed  at  the  ambition  of  the  King  of  France, 
and  indignant  at  the  conquests  he  had  just  made  in  a  time 
of  perfect  peace,  by  virtue  of  the  decrees  of  his  chambers  of 
reunion.  When  the  whole  of  Europe  found  itself  agreed  to  op- 
pose a  dam  against  that  invading  tide,  and  when  the  Pope 
had  become  the  ally  of  Holland,  Austrian  Denmark,  that 
part  of  Sweden  which  belongs  to  Savoy,  Bavarian  Saxony, 
and  Spanish  Brandenburgh,  William  of  Orange  no  longer 
hesitated  to  set  sail,  in  order  to  overthrow  James  the  Second, 
and  to  deliver  England  from  a  detested  government. 


THE    BOOK    OF    CLAUDE.  43 

It  was  in  the  month  of  April,  1688,  that  the  Count 
d'Avaux  obtained  the  first  intelligence  of  the  relations  of  the 
prince  with  the  chiefs  of  the  French  emigration  in  England.* 
According  to  all  appearance,  Jurieu  was  the  principal  medium 
he  employed.  That  ardent  preacher,  who  was  at  the  same 
time  a  man  of  resolution  and  action,  had  passed  part  of  his 
youth  in  that  kingdom.  His  violent  writings  against  Charles 
II.  and  the  Duke  of  York,  had  drawn  upon  him  the  atten- 
tion of  that  prince,  from  whom  the  impetuous  minister  awaited 
the  enfranchisement  of  Britain.  Being  excited  by  him,  the 
refugees  in  London  paved  the  way,  by  their  discourse,  for  the 
success  of  the  projects  of  William.  The  recital  of  their  suf- 
ferings, passing  from  mouth  to  mouth,  inspired  the  English 
with  the  most  lively  apprehensions,  and  an  unspeakable 
horror  of  the  designs  which  were  attributed  to  James  the 
Second.  In  vain  did  that  prince  affect  to  disapprove  of  the 
intolerant  policy  of  Louis  XIV.  ;  in  vain  did  he  appear  dis- 
posed to  aid  those  fugitives,  who  were  in  need  of  public  as- 
sistance. No  one  was  deceived  by  these  apparent  marks  of 
sympathy,  which  were  so  contrary  to  his  real  sentiments, 
so  opposite,  above  all,  to  the  rigorous  measures  he  had  de- 
creed against  the  Scotch  Presbyterians.  Beside,  he  himself' 
j  ;  threw  off  the  mask,  by  causing  the  relation,  at  once  so  mode- ; 
I  rate  and  touching  of  the  persecutions  of  the  Protestants  in 
I  France,  which  the  minister  Claude  had  printed  in  Hol-^ 
;  land,  to  be  publicly  burnt  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner. 
The  refugees,  who  were  established  in  that  country,  mani- 
fested the  same  antipathy  to  James  II.  They  spread  abroad 
sincere  or  affected  doubts  as  to  the  legitimacy  of  the  birth 
of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  thus  aided  the  Prince  of  Orange 
in  the  adroit  falsehood,  which  was  one  of  the  pretexts  of  his 
expedition.  The  refugees  afterward  facilitated  his  enter- 
prise, by  the  large  sums  which  they  circulated  in  the  country. 
"  The  states  of  Holland,"  wrote  the  Count  d'Avaux,  in  1688, 

*  ISTegotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  vi.  p.  135. 


44  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

"  consent,  upon  the  remonstrances  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  to 
furnish  four  millions  to  be  employed  upon  the  fortifications 
of  Amsterdam.      The  burgomasters,  who  wished  that  money 
to  be  well  employed,  and  that  the  Prince  of  Orange  should 
make  no  bad  use  of  it,  took  with  that  intention  all  possible 
precautions.      They  caused  a  resolution  to  be  passed,  that 
these  four  millions  should  only  be  levied  in  four  years ;  that 
each   year,  before  levying  the  million,  the  use  it  was  to  be 
put  to  should  be  resolved  upon,  and  the  places  to  be  fortified 
should   be  designated.     But  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  the 
Grand  Pensionary  Fagel  well  knew  how  to  elude  all  those 
precautions.     As  money  was  very  abundant  in  Holland,  and 
as  the  French  refugees  had  brought  in  a  great  quantity,  it 
consequently  happened,  that  the  receiver-general  of  the  States 
General,  who  ought   to  have  received  but  one  million,  ac- 
cording to  the   resolution  of  the  States,  did  not  close  his 
ofl&ce  until  after  having   received  four  millions ;  and  he  de- 
clared to  the  States  General  that  the  affluence  had  been  so 
great,  that  he  had  not  had  the  time  to  reflect.      The  Prince 
of  Orange  and  Fagel  prevented  any  part  of  that  affair  from 
being  attributed  to  him.      He  was  only  ordered  to  take  care 
of  the  money ;  and  these  were   the  four  millions  which  the 
Prince  employed  to  defray  part  of  the  expenses  of  his  expe- 
dition to  England.*     The  French  ambassador  added,  in  one 
of  his  subsequent  dispatches,  that  beside  those  four  millions, 
about  five  hundred  thousand  crowns  had  been  furnished  by 
the  refugees  alone,  f 

It  was  again  the  emigrants  of  France,  who  formed  the 
elite  of  the  little  army  with  which  the  Prince  disembarked 
in  the  road  of  Torbay.  A  crowd  of  officers  of  the  Fusileer 
regiment  in  garrison  at  Strasburgh,  of  the  regiment  of  Bur- 
gundy in  garrison  in  the  same  city,^  of  that  of  Auvergne, 

*  IS'egotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  vi.  pp.  132-134. 
f  Dispatch  of  August  12th,  1688. 

X  Letter  from  Tillieres,  of  November  2'7th,  1686.      Archives  of 
the  French  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affaii-s. 


FRENCH    OFFICERS    OF    WILLIAM.  45 

which  was  divided  between  Metz  and  Verdun,*  and  officers 
and  even  private  soldiers,  who  flocked  from  Lille,  Quesnoy, 
and  from  the  generality  of  the  frontier  towns,  had  sought  an 
asylum  in  Holland  ;  and  the  States  General,  upon  the  de- 
mand of  the  Stadtholder,  had  distributed  them  among  the 
principal  places  of  arms.  Companies  which  were  almost  en- 
tirely French  existed  at  Breda,  under  the  Captains  La  Ber- 
liere,  Pralon,  d'Auteuil,  Desparon,  Loupie,  and  La  Pes- 
rine ;  at  Maestricht,  under  the  Colonel  of  cavalry  De  Bon- 
court,  and  Captains  De  Boncourt  the  younger.  Da  Bac,  Mar- 
silly  and  Falantin  ;  at  Bergen-op-Zoom,  under  Captain  Saint 
Germain ;  at  Bois-le-Duc,  under  the  Captains  Cormon, 
Fugni,  Rieutor,  and  La  Merie  ;  at  Ziitphen,  under  the  Cap- 
tains Dortoux,  Eonset,  Malboix,  and  Blanchefort ;  at  Nime- 
guen,  under  the  Captains  Belcastel,  D'Avejan,  De  Maricourt, 
D'Entragues,  and  De  Saint-Sauveur  ;  at  Arnheim,  under  the 
Captains  De  Montant,  Monpas,  Chalais,  and  La  Rambilliere ; 
at  Grave,  under  Captain  Cabrole  ;  at  Utrecht,  under  the 
Captains  Gastine,  De  Flsle.  Ville,  Traversy,  De  Chavernay, 
and  Bapin  ;  and  at  the  Hague,  under  the  Captains  Petit, 
Monbrun,  de  Jaucourt,  and  De  Fabrice.f  All  these  officers 
had  consented  to  enter  into  the  service  of  Holland.  Many 
of  them  had,  at  first,  stipulated  that  they  should  not  fight 
against  their  former  country.  Although  they  were  reputed 
fugitives  and  deserters  in  accordance  with  military  law,  they 
did  not  consider  themselves  entirely  released  from  the  oath 
of  fidelity  they  had  taken  to  Louis  XIV.  On  that  account 
frequent  duels  took  place  between  those  who,  preferring  their 
religion  to  their  country,  blamed  the  persecuting  King  in 
bitter  terms,  and  those  who  maintained  that  a  French  officer 

*  Letter  of  the  same,  of  December  4th,  1686. 

f  See,  in  tlie  Archives  of  the  Ministry  of  French  Foreign  Affairs, 
the  list  of  the  French  officers  to  whom  the  States  General  gave  pen- 
sions. Dispatch  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  March  fourteenth,  one  thou- 
sand six  hundred  and  eighty-six. 


46  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

should  in  no  circumstances,  and  under  no  pretext,  fail  in  the 
respect  whicli  was  due  to  his  legitimate  sovereign.*  The 
Prince  of  Orange  openly  took  under  his  patronage  those 
whose  views  agreed  with  his  policy,  and  prevented  the  effect 
of  the  proceedings,  which  were  instituted  against  them  by 
the  Dutch  tribunals.  But  feeling  the  necessity  of  stifling 
these  growing  dissensions  in  the  germ,  and  giving  a  new 
direction  to  the  sentiment  of  honor  and  fidelity,  which  ani- 
mated these  loyal  exiles,  he  imposed  upon  them  an  oath,  by 
which  they  engaged  to  serve  the  republic  against  all  its  ene- 
mies, f  That  oath,  which  was  intended  to  denaturalize 
them,  by  breaking  the  last  tie  which  bound  them  to  France, 
was  conceived  in  these  terms : 

"  I  promise  and  swear  to  be  loyal  and  faithful  to  my 
lords,  the  States  General  of  the  United  Provinces  ;  to  obey 
the  orders  and  commands  of  the  said  States  ;  of  his  High- 
ness and  the  Council  of  State,  as  also  of  all  chiefs  and  offi- 
cers, who  are  already  established  in  charge  by  the  States 
General,  or  whom  it  may  please  them  so  to  establish  for  the 
future,  against  all  powers  generally,  without  excepting  any 
whatsoever,  according  as  the  exigence  of  the  affairs  and  the 
need  of  the  said  provinces  may  require,  as  well  within,  as 
without,  the  said  provinces,  by  land  and  sea  ;  to  respect  and 
execute  their  commands,  and  in  general  to  conduct  myself 
according  to  the  articles  and  ordinances  already  made  and 
decreed,  or  hereafter  to  be  made  and  decreed — So  help  me 
God ! " t 

We  have  related  elsewhere  that  three  French  regiments 
of  infantry,  a  squadron  of  cavalry,  and  seven  hundred  and 
thirty-six  officers  of  the  reformed  religion,  incorporated  into 
all  the  battalions,  embarked  with  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and 
powerfully  contributed  to  the  triumph  of  his  cause  in  Eng- 

*  Dispatch  of  May  24tli,  16S6.         f  D'Avaux,  voL  v.  p.  234. 
X  Groot  Plakaatboek,  vol,  iv.  fol.  166. 


WAR    OF    THE    SPANISH    SUCCESSION.  47 

land,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.*  When  the  revolution  was  ac- 
complished in  those  three  kingdoms,  William  III.  returned 
to  the  continent,  to  continue  the  war  against  Louis  XIV. 
The  refugees  followed  him  thither,  and  continued  to  serve 
him  with  the  same  fidelity  and  valor.  A  regiment,  which 
was  commanded  by  the  Marquis  de  Ruvigny,  fought  under 
his  orders  at  Steinkerque  and  Neerwinden.  A  division  con- 
fided to  Charles  de  Schomberg,  was  sent  to  the  relief  of  the 
Duke  of  Savoy,  against  the  army  of  Catinat.  The  Dutch 
troops  themselves  became  more  and  more  filled  with  French 
officers,  who  covered  themselves  with  glory  in  that  bloody 
war,  which  determined  the  treaty  of  Ryswick.  Upon  the 
re- establishment  of  peace,  the  French  regiments  were  dis- 
banded, but  they  were  hastily  reformed  in  1703,  when  the  war 
of  the  Spanish  succession  again  set  Europe  in  a  blaze.  Two 
regiments  of  infantry,  entirely  composed  of  refugees,  fought 
in  Piedmont,  under  the  command  of  La  Porte  and  Cava- 
lier ;  and  three  others  in  Holland,  under  the  command  of 
Belcastel,  who  was  afterward  replaced  by  Monteze,  de  Lisle - 
maretz,  and  de  Vigouse.f  They  contributed  to  the  victory 
of  the  allies,  on  the  murderous  day  of  Oudenarde,  and  on 
that  of  Malplaquet,  which  reduced  Louis  XIV.  to  sue  for 
peace,  and  to  consent  to  the  Ijumiliating  conditions  of  the 
preliminaries  of  the  Hague,  which  the  coalized  powers  had 
the  folly  to  refuse.  AVhile  Prince  Eugene  was  making  him- 
self master  of  Lille,  and  the  road  to  Paris  was  open  to  the 
enemy,  a  Dutch  company,  under  the  command  of  refugee 
officers,  had  the  boldness  to  penetrate  from  Courtrai  so  far  as 
to  the  very  gates  of  Versailles,  and  to  carry  off",  on  the  bridge 
of  Sevres,  the  first  equerry  of  the  King.  When  the  allied 
powers  at  last  decided  upon  succoring  the  Camisards,  it  was 
upon  Belcastel  that  they  fixed  their  choice  to  direct  the  ex- 
pedition.    Appointed  a  major-general,  at  a  conference  which 

*  See  our  chapter  on  the  estabhshment  of  the  refugees  in  England. 
f  Library  of  Science  and  Fine  Arts,  v.  xiv.  p.  166. 


48  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

was  held  at  the  Hague,  on  the  28th  of  April,  1 704,  at  the 
house  of  General  Marlborough,  he  received  orders  to  levy  a 
body  of  five  thousand  men,  with  whom  to  penetrate  into  the 
Cevennes.  The  submission  of  Cavalier  rendered  that  pro- 
ject abortive.  The  arrest  of  one  of  his  officers  named  Villas, 
the  son  of  a  doctor  of  St.  Hippolyte,  who  had  served  as 
cornet  in  the  regiment  of  Galloway,  made  him  renounce 
every  temptation  to  organize  an  insurrection  in  Languedoc. 
But  he  continued  to  serve  under  the  flag  of  the  republic, 
and,  in  1710,  he  received  the  command  of  the  Dutch  troops 
in  Spain.  He  distinguished  himself  at  the  battle  of  Sara- 
gossa,  which  cost  Philip  V.  five  thousand  lives,  four  thou- 
sand prisoners,  and  sixteen  pieces  of  cannon.  It  was  partly 
upon  his  entreaties  that  Charles  III.  took  the  resolution  of 
marching  on  Madrid,  which  the  grandson  of  Louis  XIV. 
abandoned  for  the  second  time,  on  the  9th  of  September,  but 
which  the  allies  were  forced  to  evacuate  in  their  turn,  on  the 
18th  of  the  following  November.  Some  days  afterward,  the 
celebrated  battle  of  Villavieiosa  was  fought  and  gained  by 
Vendome,  in  which  Belcastel  was  slain. 

Among  the  officers  who  remained  in  the  service  of  Hol- 
land, after  having  fought  under  the  flag  of  William  III.,  one 
of  the  most  illustrious  was  Goulon,  the  distinguished  pupil 
of  Vauban,  who  had  been  so  useful  to  the  Mareschal  de 
Schomberg  during  the  Irish  war.  Having  become  a  general 
of  artillery,  and  commandant  of  the  regiment  of  Hoorn,  he 
knew  how  to  maintain  the  high  reputation  he  had  acquired. 
The  other  refugees  who  most  signalized  themselves  in  the 
armies  of  the  republic,  are — the  Baron  d'lvoi,  quartermaster- 
general  and  first  engineer  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who  ap- 
pointed him  governor  of  Fort  Schenk  ;  *  Jacques  de  I'Etang, 
a  celebrated  architect  and  engineer,  who  afterward  took  up 
his  abode  at  Amsterdam  ;  f  Collot  d'Escury,  an  artillery  offi- 

*  Manuscript  collected  by  Jacques  Floui-noy,  year  1686. 
f  See  the  letter  of  Scion,  already  quoted. 


FRENCH    ENGINEERS.  49 

eer  of  great  merit ;  Mauregnault,  who  likewise  distinguished 
himself  in  that  particular  arm ;  Paul  Auguste  de  Roehe- 
brune,  son-iu-law  of  Barbejrac,  who  was  captain  and  afterward 
lieutenant-colonel ;  and  Paul  du  Ily.  an  old  officer 'of  engi- 
neers, who  had  repaired  the  fortifications  of  Maestricht.  The 
military  refugees  contributed  powerfully  to  perfect  the  art  of 
war  among  the  Dutch  and  their  allies.  The  French  engineers, 
above  all,  who  issued  from  the  schools  recently  instituted  by 
Louvois,  surpassed,  at  that  time,  those  of  all  other  people  ; 
and  the  knowledge  which  those  who  emigrated  diffused 
throughout  the  Protestant  states,  was  not  without  infiuence 
upon  some  of  the  victories  which  the  allied  powers  gui^ied 
over  the  armies  of  Louis  XIV. 

A  great  number  of  soldiers  and  officers  of  the  marine, 
after  having  been  compelled  to  make  external  professions  of 
Papistry,  abandoned  the  French  service  for  that  of  Holland. 
In  the  month  of  January,  1686,  alone,  three  French  vessels, 
manned  by  newly  converted  sailors,  were,  upon  their  arrival 
in  the  porta  of  the  Republic,  entirely  abandoned  by  their 
crews,  who  declared  that  they  would  not  return  to  a  country 
where  their  religion  was  proscribed.*  All  the  Dutch  writers 
recognize  the  considerable  part  which  our  seamen  took  in 
perfecting  the  naval  art  in  their  new  country. f  Admiral 
Duquesne  was  one  of  the  most  able  seamen  of  the  age. 
He  had  seconded,  more  than  any  one  beside,  the  efforts  of 
Colbert,  in  creating  those  formidable  fleets  which  vanquished 
Ruyter  in  the  latitudes  of  Sicily,  chastised  the  corsairs  of 
Tunis,  Tripoli,  and  Algiers,  bombarded  Genoa,  and  gave  the 
empire  of  the  sea  for  thirty  years  to  Louis  XIV.  After  the 
revocation,  he  saw  with  gloomy  despair  the  vessels  of  the 
King  deserted  by  a  part  of  the  best  of  their  crews,  who  went 
to  provide  for  the  great  need  of  Holland,  which  was  richer 

*  Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  v.  p.  229. 

f  See  De  Jonge.  History  of  the  l^etherlands'  Marine  (in  Dutch), 
vol.  iv.  pp.  164,  155.     Kcenen,  p.  138. 

VOL.   II. — 3 


50  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

in  merchantmen  than  in  ships  of  war.  In  1686,  more  than 
eight  hundred  experienced  seamen  had  already  sought  an 
asylum  in  the  Seven  Provinces,  and  their  number  was  aug- 
mented without  cessation,  because  they  preferred  to  serve  in 
the  fleets  of  that  country,  than  in  those  of  England,  which 
was  governed  by  the  Stuarts.*  Often,  even  after  having 
found  a  temporary  shelter  in  Plymouth,  they  re-embarked 
for  some  port  in  Holland. f  When  the  Prince  of  Orange 
made  his  preparations  against  James  II.,  a  hundred  and  fifty 
French  sailors  were  enrolled  in  the  single  island  of  Zealand, 
who  were  comprised  in  the  grand  levy  of  nine  thousand  seamen 
which  was  ordered  by  the  States  General.  Being  considered 
choice  men,  they  were  placed  on  board  of  the  two  vessels  of 
the  Admiral  and  Vice-Admiral  of  Zealand.  Most  of  them 
were  natives  of  the  seaboard  of  La  Saintonge,  and  had  been 
brought  to  that  country  by  the  minister  Orillar ;  and  they 
announced  that  more  than  five  hundred  seamen  of  the  same 
province  were  preparing  to  follow  them.:{:  The  shores  of 
Normandy,  Brittany,  Guienne,  also  largely  contributed  to 
that  regretted  emigration,  for  it  was  one  of  the  causes  of  the 
rapid  decline  of  our  naval  power.  Many  of  these  fugitives 
were  engaged  as  officers  or  marine  volunteers,  and  Holland 
had  more  than  once  occasion  to  felicitate  herself  upon  the 
services  of  a  Colin  de  Plessy,  a  Crequin  La  Roche,  a  Fran- 
cois Leguat,  an  Antoine  Valleau,a  Chobases,  a  Guillot,  and  a 
Desherbiers.  But  the  most  illustrious  seamen  whom  per- 
secution conducted  to  that  country,  were  the  two  sons  of 
the  admiral,  to  whom  Louis  XIV.,  derogating  from  the 
severity  of  his  Edicts,  had  granted  the  favor  of  being 
allowed  to  finish  bis  days  in  France,  without  being  disquieted 

,  *  Dispatch  of  Bonrepaiis  to  the  Marquis  de  Seignelay.  Amster- 
dam, May  20,  1686.  Archives  of  the  French  Ministry  of  Foreign 
Affairs. 

f  Letter  ofTillieres,  June  21,  1686. 

X  Dispatch  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  September  16,  1688. 


Trench  marines  in  Holland.  51 

upon  the  subject  of  religion.  Henri,  Marquis  Duquesne,  who 
had  been  associated  with  the  councils  and  last  great  mari- 
time victories  of  his  father,  was  accompanied  bj  his  brother 
Abraham,  and  an  excellent  officer  of  marine,  named  Charles  de 
Sailly.  By  a  regular  treaty,  signed  in  1689,  with  the  States 
General,  he  was  authorized  to  equip  ten  vessels  to  conduct  a 
colony  of  refugees  to  the  Mascarenhas  Islands.  The  sove- 
reignty of  the  colony  was  to  belong  to  himself,  and  after  him 
to  his  legitimate  heirs,  on  condition  that  each  new  possessor 
should  recognize  himself  as  a  vassal  of  the  republic,  and 
should  never  conclude  any  treaty  or  alliance,  which  might  be 
prejudicial  to  his  sovereign.  Great  preparations  soon 
announced  to  all  the  refugees  dispersed  throughout  Holland, 
England,  Switzerland,  and  Germany,  the  approaching  depar- 
ture of  an  expedition  directed  against  a  distant  country, 
which  was  vaguely  designated  by  the  name  of  Eden.  There 
actually  came  together  a  certain  number  of  refugees  deter- 
mined to  run  the  risks  of  that  enterprise.  A  captain,  in  a 
French  regiment  in  the  service  of  Holland,  was  authorized 
to  accompany  the  expedition  in  the  quality  of  engineer,  to 
fortify  the  island,  and  remain  there  six  years,  preserving  in 
the  mean  time  his  rank  in  the  army.*  But  when  the 
brothers  Duquesne  learned  that  the  expedition  was  really 
directed  against  the  Isle  of  Bourbon,  and  that  ships  of 
war  were  leaving  France  with  the  same  destination,  they 
renounced  their  project,  so  as  not  to  break  their  oath  of 
never  to  make  war  against  the  French  flag.  They  separated 
themselves  from  their  companions,  and  retired  into  the  Pays 
de  Vaud,  while  most  of  the  seamen  who  had  flocked  together 
to  serve  under  their  command,  went  to  fight  on  board  the 
Dutch  fleets  against  the  naval  armaments  of  Louis  XIY. 

The  refugees  likewise  served  the  republic  by  their  politi- 
cal writings,  and  by  the  diplomatic  talent  of  one  of  the  most 

*    Archives  of   the  Hague.    Secret  Resolutions  of  their   High 
Mischtinesses. 


52  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

illustrious  among  them.  Whilst  the  great  Arnaud  publish- 
ed his  writings  against  the  Prince  of  Orange,  perhaps  to 
facilitate  his  return  to  France,  whence  the  influence  of  the 
Jesuits  had  banished  him,  the  rights  of  the  Prince  were 
skilfully  defended  by  some  of  the  fugitives,  who  exposed,  at 
the  same  time,  the  intrigues  of  that  powerful  order,  which 
had  exercised  so  fatal  an  influence  over  Louis  XIV.  and 
James  II.  When  Bayle  accused  all  France  of  having  taken 
part  in  the  persecution  of  the  Reformed,  when,  addressing 
himself  to  the  soldiers,  conquerors  of  their  fellow-citizens  in 
their  fields  in  the  interior,  he  exclaimed  with  his  Southern 
fervor — "  It  is  said  that  you  take  so  much  delight  in  plunder- 
ing the  houses  of  the  heretics,  that  you  already  ask  one 
another ;  '  Can  we  not  induce  the  King  to  send  us  with  his 
victorious  armies  to  convert  all  the  Protestant  States  ? 
Shall  we  not  go  to  aid  the  King  of  England  to  do,  in  his 
kingdom,  what  has  been  done  in  this  ?'  "  *  Did  it  not  serve 
the  cause  of  Holland,  and  that  of  William  of  Orange  ?  Did 
it  not  revive  all  the  hatred  against  Louis  XIY,,  and  give  a 
new  force  to  those  who  were  preparing  to  fight  against  him  ? 
Claude's  celebrated  paper,  which  was  composed,  if  we  can 
believe  the  Count  d'Avaux,  by  the  express  order  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  was  it  not  a  rude  blow  to  the  King  of 
England,  who  took  on  it  so  puerile  a  vengeance  ?  Did  not 
"  The  sighs  of  enslaved  France,"  which  was  attributed  to  Ju- 
rieu,  add  to  the  moral  influence  of  the  philosophic  party  in 
France,  which  was  opposed  to  the  measures  of  persecution — a 
party  which  was  not  as  yet  numerous,  but  which  counted  in  its 
ranks  many  deep  thinkers,  a  Duke  de  Beauvilliers,  a  Saint 
Simon,  a  Duke  de  Chevreuse,  a  Fenelon,  a  Vauban  and  a 
Catinat  ?  Had  not  the  political  and  religious  reaction  which 
broke  out  on  the  death  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  the  new  system, 
which  was  followed  by  the  Regent,  been  in  part  prepared  by 

*  Romish  France,  under  the  reign  of  Louis  the  Great.     See  Bayle, 
"Divers  Works,"  vol.  i.  p.  338.     The  Hague,  1121. 


JACQUES    BASNAGE.  53 

tbat  ardent  paper,  which  was  circulated  throughout  the 
whole  of  France,  in  spite  of  the  jealous  supervision  of  the 
police,  and  which  was  afterward  reprinted,  as  the  work  of  a 
patriot,  in  the  first  years  of  the  French  Revolution  ? 

But,  among  all  the  refugees,  the  brother-in-law  of  Jurieu, 
Jacques  Basnage,  was  he  who  shone  in  the  first  rank  as  a 
diplomatist,  and  acquired  a  European  reputation,  not  only 
by  his  writings  and  discourses,  but  also  by  the  negotiations 
which  he  conducted  with  as  much  skill  as  good  fortune.  At 
first,  appointed  a  preacher  at  Rotterdam,  he  was  soon  called 
to  the  Hague  by  the  grand  pensionary,  Heinsius,  who  appre- 
ciated his  political  genius,  and  desired  to  attach  him  as  near 
as  possible  to  his  person. 

Voltaire  has  said  of  Basnage,  that  he  was  more  fit  to  be 
the  minister  of  a  state,  than  of  a  parish.*  Heinsius  and  Van 
Haren,  who  ruled  in  the  councils  of  the  republic  after  the 
death  of  William  of  Orange,  intrusted  to  him  many  impor- 
tant missions,  and  the  result  always  answered  their  expecta- 
tion. Once  only,  in  1709,  at  the  conferences  of  Gertruyden- 
berg,  he  failed  in  his  eflPorts  to  bring  about  the  peace,  which 
was  not  sincerely  desired  by  the  allies,  who  were  intoxicated 
by  their  victories ;  and  saw,  wi.th  grief,  the  request  which 
he  addressed  to  the  ministers  plenipotentiary  of  Louis  XIV. 
to  restore  the  liberty  of  worship  to  the  Protestants  who  had 
not  quitted  the  kingdom,  denied.  At  the  conferences  of 
Utrecht,  he  was  intrr.sted  with  a  secret  negotiation  with  the 
Marshal  d'Uxelles,  a.id  acquitted  himself  with  the  most  bril- 
liant success.  The  praises  of  the  Marshal,  those  of  the 
Marquis  de  Torcy,  and  the  high  opinion  which  the  Cardinal 
de  Bouillon  conceived  of  him,  who  intrusted  to  him  during 
his  sojourn  at  the  Hague  all  the  affairs  which  he  negotiated 
with  the  States,  attracted  toward  him  the  attention  of  the 
Ptegent,  who  soon  gave  him  a  singular  mark  of  his  consid- 
eration and  esteem.      When,  in  1716,  he  sent   the   Abbe 

*  Voltaire,  Si^cle  de  Louis  XIV.    Catalogue  of  French  Writers. 


54  FRENCH    PPcOTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

Dubois,  who  was  afterward  cardinal  and  prime  minister,  to 
the  Hague,  in  the  quality  of  ambassador,  to  negotiate  a 
treaty  of  defensive  alliance  between  France,  England,  and 
Holland,  he  ordered  him  to  address  himself  to  Basnage,  and 
to  govern  himself,  in  every  thing,  according  to  his  advice. 
The  love  of  country  was  not  chilled  in  the  heart  of  the  exile. 
He  zealously  employed  himself  in  seconding  the  French  ne- 
gotiator, and  the  alliance  was  concluded  in  1717.  The 
discernment  which  he  had  shown,  and  the  disinterested  sen- 
timent which  had  presided  over  his  conduct,  determined  the 
Regent  spontaneously  to  raise  the  sequestration  which  had 
been  laid  upon  his  property  during  thirty-two  years.  When 
Dubois  asked  him,  in  the  name  of  his  master,  what  recom- 
pense he  desired  for  the  service  he  had  rendered :  "  None 
for  myself,"  he  replied  ;  "but  I  should  consider  it  a  great 
favor,  if  the  property  which  he  possessed  in  Normandy  were 
restored  to  my  brother,  Samuel  Basnage,  of  Flottemanville, 
a  preacher  of  the  French  church  of  Zutphen."  *  Lemontey 
insinuates,  in  his  History  of  the  Regency,  that  Basnage  al- 
lowed himself  to  be  gained  over  by  Dubois,  and  that  he 
worked  in  the  hope  of  a  suitable  remuneration.  Such  a  sup. 
position,  however,  cannot  be  admitted.  Refuted  in  advance 
by  the  known  integrity  of  the  noble  exile,  it  is  also  formally 
contradicted  by  the  irreproachable  testimony  of  Dubois  him- 
self, f  It  is  more  probable  that  the  Regent  used  every 
effort  to  attach  him  by  the  bonds  of  gratitude,  to  preserve 

*  Born  at  Bayeux  in  1638,  Samuel  Basnage,  of  Flottemanyille,  serv- 
ed the  church  of  that  town  until  1685  :  he  accompanied  to  Holland,  his 
father,  Antoine  Basnage,  of  Flottemanville,  the  brother  of  Henry 
Basnage,  of  Franquenay,  the  father  of  Jacques  Basnage,  and  died 
when  pastor  at  Zutphen,  in  1721.  He  was  then  the  cousin,  and  not 
the  brother,  of  Jacques  Basnage.  The  denomination  brotlier,  put  in 
the  mouth  of  the  latter,  must  be  taken  entirely  in  a  Christian  sense. 

f  See  the  Letter  from  Dubois  to  Basnage,  inserted  in  the  preface 
of  the  second  volume  of  the  "Annals  of  the  United  Provinces."  The 
Hague,  1*726. 


JACQUES    BASNAGE.  55 

the  right  of  making  a  new  appeal  to  his  patriotism,  if  events 
should  give  occasion  for  it.     He  might,  in  fact,  fear  that  the 
intrigues  of  Alberoni,  who  aspired  to  play  the  part  of  Riche- 
lieu, ar.d  restore  Spain  to  its  former  power,  would  shortly 
incite  the  Protestants  of  the  Cevennes  again  to  take  up  arms, 
and  rekindle  the  terrible  war  of  the  Camisards.     In  his  dis- 
quiet, he  sent  a  gentleman  to  the  Hague,  and  directed  him 
to  Basnage,  whose  assistance  he  asked  for  the  maintenance 
of  peace  in  France.     He  put  the  French  government  in  rela- 
tion with  Antoine  Court,  a  pastor  of  the  Desert,  w^ho,  by  his 
active  correspondence,  the  authority  attached  to  his  words, 
and  his  frequent  journeys,  undertaken  at  the  peril  of  his 
life,  in  the  Southern  provinces,  exercised  an  unlimited  influ- 
ence over  the   Protestant  population,  and  could  at  his  will 
recommend  them  to  submit,  or  excite  them  to  revolt.     Im- 
bued with   the  doctrines   of  passive  obedience  preached  by 
Calvin,  Basnage  had  severely  condemned  the  rising  of  the 
mountaineers  of  the  Cevennes,  while  Jurieu  justified  the  in- 
surrection  on  the  principles  of  natural  right,     A  new  civil 
war,  fomented  by  the  agents   of  the  minister  of  Philip  V., 
could  only  aggravate  still  more  the  lot  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Cevennes.     Basnage  knew  this,  and  joining  his  efforts  to 
those  of  Antoine  Court,  at  the  request  of  the  Count  de  Mor-- 
ville,  the  French  ambassador  at  Holland,  and  in  accordance 
with  the  express  prayer  of  the  Regent,  he  addressed  to  his 
co-religionists  in  France  a  pastoral  letter,  which  was  printed 
at  Paris  by  the  order  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  dissemi- 
nated through  all  the  provinces  of  the  kingdom,  and  espe- 
cially those  of  the  South.     That  letter,  which  was  written 
with  tact  and  circumspection,  powerfully  seconded  the  concil- 
iatory overtures  commenced  by  Antoine  Court.    The  Protes- 
tant population  of  Languedoc  and  the  Cevennes  renounced 
an  unequal  struggle,  which  could  only  be  of  service  to  the 
foreign  enemy  ;  and  the  French  government,  in  its  turn,  put 


56  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

a  salutary  check  upon  the  pitiless  animosity  of  the  succes- 
sors of  Montrevel  and  Baville.* 

*See  the  article  Basn age,  in  Cliaufepie's  Dictionary. — La  France 
Pz-otestante,  by  M.  M.  Haag,  vol.  ii.  pp.  8,  9.  Coequerel,  Histoiy  of 
the  Churches  of  the  Desert,  vol.  i.  pp.  91^92.  Count  de  Gebelin, 
Primitive  World,  vol.  i.  pp.  5,  6,  T. 


CHAPTER    III. 

OF  THE    EELIGIOUS    AND    LITEEARY    INTLIJEXOE    OF   THE    EEFTTGEE9 
DJ   HOLLAND. 

Renewal  of  the  old  Walloon  colonies— Influence  of  the  French  preachers— Charles 
Saurin— Claude— Jurieu — Du  Bosc— Superville — Propagation  of  the  French  lan- 
guage in  Holland — Progress  of  instruction  in  the  middle  classes — The  French 
Refugees — Progress  of  letters  and  sciences— Influence  of  the  Refugees  on  civil 
and  criminal  law — Advancement  of  the  exact  sciences — Pierre  Lyonnet — Lite- 
rary emigration — Bayle — Progress  of  historic  science — James  Basnage — Benoit — 
Jauigon— Periodical  literature— French  journals— Letters  on  matters  of  the  day- 
Historical  and  political  Mercury— Leyden  Gazette— Literary  Journalism— New 
republic  of  letters. 

From  the  period  of  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
Calvinist  France,  deprived  of  her  academies,  had  no  longer 
to  enumerate,  within  her  own  bosom,  any  great  writers,  and 
no  longer  possessed  the  means  of  forming  new  ones.  In  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  whole  provinces  lacked 
temples  and  pastors ;  others  possessed  uneducated  ministers 
only,  irregularly  nominated  at  meetings  held  in  desert  places, 
who  were  recommended  less  by  their  oratorical  talents,  than 
by  the  indomitable  zeal  which  prompted  them  to  affront 
martyrdom.  But  a  colony  of  preachers  and  literary  men 
had  withdrawn  to  Holland.  There  it  found  repose  and 
liberty,  consideration  and  honor ;  and,  from  that  time,  it 
labored  without  relaxation  to  maintain  the  faith,  and  spread 
light  through  the  unhappy  country,  which  it  had  been  forced 


58  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

to  abandon.  From  the  "  dragoonings  "  to  the  reign  of  Louis 
XVI.,  Holland  was  the  most  brilliant  focus  of  French  Pro- 
testantism. It  beamed  thence  throughout  France,  England, 
Germany ;  but  it  is  principally  over  the  United  Provinces 
themselves  that  it  exercised  the  strongest  influence.  It  re- 
kindled the  Walloon  church  in  that  country,  it  propagated, 
or  at  least  accelerated,  therein  the  growth  of  the  French 
language,  and  communicated  to  letters  and  sciences  a  salu- 
tary impulse,  which  that  country  feels  to  this  day. 

The  Walloon  communities,  created  in  the  second  half  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  which  were  tending  more  and  more 
to  the  loss  of  their  proper  character,  and  to  a  fusion  among 
the  Netherlandish  population,  were  reinvigorated,  and,  if 
one  may  so  express  himself,  restored  to  youth  by  the  arrival 
of  the  Refugees.  The  colonies  of  Rotterdam,  of  Nimeguen, 
and  Tholen,  were  ready  to  disappear ;  they  owed  their  pre- 
servation to  the  emigrants.  That  of  Amsterdam  would  have 
been  sufficiently  numerous,  and  sufficiently  strong,  to  defend 
its  nationality  against  the  invading  tide  of  the  Dutch  tongue ; 
but  it,  nevertheless,  received  a  great  increase,  and  a  new  ele- 
ment of  duration,  from  the  admission  of  so  many  thousands 
of  new  fugitives. 

After  the  revocation,  the  Walloon  communities  were  in 
need  of  pastors.  The  government  of  Louis  XIV.  provided 
amply  for  that  necessity.  The  single  colony  of  Amsterdam 
was  strengthened  by  the  arrival  of  sixteen  banished  preachers, 
and  other  ministers  banished  from  France.  More  than  two 
hundred  more  spread  themselves  through  all  the  towns  of 
the  United  Provinces.  These  were  the  picked  men  of  the 
Protestant  clergy  of  the  realm  ;  for,  it  must  be  said,  a  cer- 
tain number  of  pastors  had  yielded  to  allurements  and  trick- 
eries, and  embraced  the  Romish  religion,  in  order  to  avoid 
quitting  their  country.  Those  who  resigned  themselves  to 
exile  were  firm  and  courageous  men,  who  had  power  enough 
to  resist  both  promises  and  threats,  and  who  carried  as  much 


FRENCH  PREACHERS  IN  HOLLAND.  59 

authority  by  the  weight  of  their  example,  as  by  that  of  their 
preaching.  Sprung  for  the  most  part  from  the  nobility,  or 
the  upper  class  of  citizens,  they  were  equally  used  to  inter- 
course with  people  of  high  and  low  quality.  Equal  with 
these  by  birth,  they  knew  well  how  to  approach  to  the  level 
of  these  by  an  easy  and  natural  familiarity,  and  they  pre- 
sided over  their  pastoral  cures  with  a  conscientious  duty 
to  which  the  old  Walloon  communities  were  unaccustomed. 
During  the  whole  of  the  eighteenth  century,  in  all  the  towns 
in  which  one  met  the  refugees,  or  the  descendants  of  the 
French  refugees,  the  names  of  these  first  ministers  were 
never  pronounced  but  with  respect  and  veneration.  The 
influence  which  they  exerted  on  the  reform  of  preaching  was 
their  first  title  to  honor.  To  appreciate  the  full  bearing  of 
this,  it  will  become  necessary  to  compare  their  discourses 
with  those  of  the  Walloon  or  Netherlandish  pastors.  The 
difference  is  immense.  Pulpit  eloquence  had  arrived  at  the 
highest  degree  of  perfection  in  each  of  the  two  churches, 
which  disputed  one  with  the  other  the  empire  of  consciences  ; 
and  several  of  the  exiled  ministers  were  hardly  inferior  to 
Bossuet,  and  certainly  superior  to  Massillon,  Bourdaloue, 
and  Flechier.  The  Walloon  communities  had  no  orators 
comparable  to  them ;  as  to  the  preaching  of  the  Netherland 
school,  it  was  learned,  but  monotonous  and  lifeless.  So  that 
the  French  churches  were  frequented,  not  only  by  the  re- 
fugees, but  by  all  the  descendants  of  the  Walloon  families, 
and  by  all  those  of  the  Dutch  who  had  studied  the  French 
tongue,  and  to  whom  education  had  communicated  a  juster 
taste,  and  higher  literary  aspirations.  In  many  towns,  the 
magistrates  were  almost  regular  in  their  attendance  at  the 
preachings.  A  considerable  number  of  Hollanders  even 
united  themselves  to  the  French  communities,  and  thus  com- 
pensated the  losses  which  the  new  colonies  experienced,  by 
the  loss  of  such  members  as  attached  themselves  to  the 
national  churches. 


60  FRE-\CH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

This  superiority  of  the  French  preaching  lasted  a  consi 
clerable  time,  perhaps,  in  consequence  of  a  particular  usage 
of  the  United  Provinces.  In  these,  the  pastoral  functions 
were  transmitted  hereditarily  from  father  to  son,  and  thus 
became  gradually  hereditary  in  certain  families.  Thus  were 
formed,  as  among  the  ancient  Hebrews,  actual  hereditary  ra- 
ses of  priesthood,  such  as  the  Chaufepies,  originally  natives 
Df  Poitou,  the  Mouniers  of  Perigord,  the  Delprats  of  Mon- 
fcauban,  and  the  Saurins  of  Nimes.  A  crowd  of  pastors, 
descended  from  these  illustrious  ancestors,  filled  the  pulpits  of 
Amsterdam,  the  Hague,  Kotterdam,  Leyden,  and  Harlaem, 
and  contributed  to  preserve  to  those  churches  the  renown, 
svhich  had  been  acquired  by  the  talent  of  their  first  founders. 
Nevertheless,  the  compulsory  separation  in  which  they  lived 
from  their  own  country,  and  the  impossibility  of  imita- 
ting the  great  models  of  the  French  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
rendered  them  greatly  inferior  to  their  predecessors.  But 
this  slow  deterioration  was  preceded  by  a  real  revolution  in 
Dutch  preaching  and  Walloon  preaching,  which  were  now  re- 
modelled entirely  on  the  French  style,  and  have  ever  since 
maintained  an  elevated  rank. 

The  most  brilliant  orator  of  the  Refuge,  James  Saurin, 
belongs  to  the  second  period  of  the  emigration.  Born  at 
Nimes  in  1677,  he  soon  followed  his  father  to  Geneva,  he 
having  been  compelled  to  fly  for  religion's  sake,  and  com- 
menced serious  studies  in  that  city,  which  was,  however, 
shortly  interrupted  by  the  desire  of  distinguishing  himself 
in  arms.  Pie  was  scarcely  fifteen  years  of  age,  when  he  en- 
tered the  regiment  embodied  by  the  Marquis  de  Ruvigny, 
and  levied  for  the  service  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  who  was  at 
that  period  engaged  in  the  European  coalition  against  Louis 
XIV.  After  the  defection  of  that  prince,  he  returned  to 
Geneva,  and  there  completed  his  religious  education.  From 
that  time  forth,  the  oratorical  exercises  of  the  young  student 
attracted  uumecous  auditories,  and  one  day  it  was  even  found 


JAMES    SAURIN.  61 

necessary   to   open  the   cathedral  for  the   reception   of  the 
crowd  which  flocked  to  hear  him.     Scarcely  was  he  consecra- 
ted to  the  ministry,  when  he  was   appointed   minister  to  the 
French    church  in   London,  where    the  celebrated  English 
preacher  Tillotson,  whom  he  took  for  his  model,  added  the 
last  finish  to  his  admirable  talent.     It  was   at  this  period, 
perhaps,  that  Abbadie,  hearing  him  for  the  first   time,  ex- 
claimed, "  Is  this  a  man  or  an  angel,  who  is  speaking  to  us  ?  " 
Invited  to  the  Hague  in  1705,  with  the  title  of  minister  ex- 
traordinary of  the  French  community  of  the  nobles,  he  preach- 
ed   there  with  astonishing  success.     By  the  extent    of    his 
information,  the  elevation   of  his  thoughts,  the  brilliancy   of 
his  imagination,  the  luminous  method  of  his  exposition,  the 
purity  of  his  style,  and  the  neatness  and  vigor  of  his  expres- 
sions, he  produced  the  liveliest  impression  on  the  multitudes 
of  refugees,  who  thronged  into  the  precincts  of  the  temple,- 
far  too  limited  to  contain  them.      The  flower  of  the  Dutch 
population  of  that  city,  Heinsius,  Van  Haren,  the  statesmen 
who  then  held  in  their  hands  the  destinies   of  Europe,  has- 
tened together  to  hear  him,  and  to  unite  their  testimony  and 
approbation  to  that  of  the  French.     All,  even   to  the  seren- 
ity of  his  noble  countenance,  the  clearness  of  his  resonant 
and  melodious  voice,  to  the  blending  in  his  style  of  Genevese 
zeal  with  southern  ardor,  contributed  to  charm  the  numerous 
auditors  who  thronged  to  hear  his  sermons. 

Saurin  excelled  especially  in  those  solemn  prayers,  with 
which  he  loved  to  close  his  discourses.  He  displayed,  in  these, 
a  strain  of  supplication  which  had,  up  to  this  time,  been  ob- 
served in  no  other  preacher.  Some  judgment  may  be  formed 
of  these  from  a  celebrated  passage  of  his  discourse,  on  fugi- 
tive devotions,  pronounced  in  the  religious  solemnities  of  the 
first  day  of  the  year  1710.  When  he  came  to  the  peroration, 
he  addressed  himself,  in  his  prayers,  to  the  faithful  of  every 
class,  who  were  collected  in  the  temple — to  the  magistrates 
of  the  Republic,  to  the  ambassadors  of  allied  powers,  to  the 


62  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

ministers  of  the  church,  to  fathers  and  mothers  of  families 
to  military  men,  to  the  young,  to  the  old,  to  the  body  of  the 
refugees,  and  to  the  monarch,  who  was  the  author  of  their 
calamities. 

This  passage,  in  our  opinion,  deserves  to  be  ranked  among 
the  finest  masterpieces  of  sacred  eloquence. 

"  After  giving  ear  to  my  exhortations,  receive  now  my 
prayers — and,  first  I  turn  me  to  the  walls  of  that  palace, 
wherein  those  laws  of  equity  and  justice  take  their  form, 
which  constitute  the  happiness  and  glory  of  these  provinces. 
Fosterers  of  our  church,  our  masters  and  our  sovereigns, 
may  God  confirm  to  you  that  power,  which  you  support  with 
so  much  glory — may  God  maintain  in  your  hands  the  reins 
of  this  republic,  which  you  guide  with  such  wisdom,  and 
moderation !  .  .  .  . 

"  To  you,  also,  I  turn  me,  illustrious  personages,  who 
represent,  in  these  provinces,  the  first  heads  of  the  Christian 
world,  and  who,  in  some  sort,  give  it  to  us  to  see,  in  the 
bosom  of  this  assembly,  princes,  electors,  kings,  repub- 
lics. May  God  unlock  all  his  treasures,  in  favor  of  those  con- 
secrated personages,  who  are  as  Gods  on  earth,  of  whose 
august  characters  you  are  the  vicegerents ;  and,  the  better 
to  enable  them  worthily  to  support  the  burthen  of  supreme 
power,  may  God  be  pleased  to  preserve  to  them  ministers 
such  as  you,  who  know  alike  to  cause  the  sovereign  authority 
to  be  the  object  of  respect  and  love. 

"  I  bless  you,  also,  sacred  Levites  of  the  Lord,  ambassa- 
dors of  the  King  of  kings,  ministers  of  the  new  alliance, 
who  bear  inscribed  on  your  foreheads,  '  Holiness  to  the 
Lord,'  and  '  in  the  breastplate  of  judgment  upon  your  hearts 
the  names  of  the  children  of  Israel.'  *  And  you,  conduc- 
tors of  the  flock,  who  are,  as  it  were,  associated  with  us  in 
the  work  of  the  ministry,  may  God  inspire  you  with  the  zeal 
of  his  house. 

*  Exodus,  chap,  xxviii.  29 — 35. 


saurin's  eloquence.  63 

"  Receive  our  prayers,  fathers  and  mothers  of  families ;  t 
happy  to  see  yourselves  reproduced  in  your  second  selves, 
happier  yet  to  introduce  those,  whom  you  bring  into  this  vale 
of  misery,  to  the  assembly  of  the  first  born,  God  grant  that 
you  may  make  of  your  houses  sanctuaries  to  his  glory,  and 
of  your  children  offerings  to  him,  who  is  '  the  Father  of 
spirits,'  *  and  '  the  God  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh.'  f 

"  Receive  our  prayers,  men  of  war ;  you,  who  after  so 
many  wars,  you  who  after  so  many  combats,  are  yet  called 
upon  to  combat  anew ;  you  who,  after  having  escaped  so 
many  perils,  behold  yet  a  new  career  of  perils  opening  before 
you  !  May  you  ever  have  the  God  of  Battles  fighting  on  your 
side,  may  you  see  victory  constantly  following  in  your  foot- 
steps !  May  you,  when  you  tread  down  the  foe,  realize  to 
yourselves  this  maxim  of  the  wise  one,  better  is  '  he  that 
ruleth  his  own  spirit,  than  he  that  taketh  a  city.'J 

"  Receive  Qur  prayers,  young  people ;  may  you  be  for  ever 
preserved  from  the  contagion  of  this  world,  into  which  you 
have  so  recently  entered,  may  you  devote  to  your  salvation 
the  precious  time,  which  you  enjoy,  may  you  remember  '  your 
Creator  in  the  days  of  your  youth. '  ^ 

"  Receive  our  prayers,  ye  that  are  aged,  ye  who  have 
already  one  foot  in  the  tomb,  or,  let  me  rather  say,  who  have 
your  hearts  in  heaven,  where  your  treasure  is  also ;  ||  may 
you  behold  '  your  outer  man  perish,  but  your  inner  man 
renewed  day  by  day  ;'  1"  may  you  behold  the  weakness  of 
your  bodies  repaired  by  the  strength  of  your  souls,  and  the 
eternal  tabernacles  opening  to  receive  you,  when  the  man- 
sions of  dust  shall  melt  away  from  their  foundations. 

"  Receive  our  prayers,  ye  desolated  countries,  who  have 
been  for  so  many  years  the  bloody  theatre  of  the  bloodiest 
war,  that  has    ever  yet   been  known.     May  the  sword   of 

*  Hebrews  xii.  9.  f  Numbers  xvi.  22. 

X  Proverbs  xvi.  32.  §  Ecclesiastes  xii.  1. 

II  Matthew  vi.  21.  1  2  Cor.  iv.   16. 


64  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

the  Eternal,  imbrued  in  so  much  blood,  'put  up  itself 
into  its  scabbard,  rest  and  be  still.'*  May  the  exterminat- 
ing angel,  who  has  laid  waste   your  fields,   cease  from  his 

bloody  executions May  the  dew  of  heaven  succeed  to 

the  gory  rain,  which  has  fallen  upon  you  for  so  many  years. 
"Are  our  prayers  all  exhausted?  Alas!  In  this  clay 
of  joy,  shall  we  forget  our  sorrows  ?  Happy  inhabitants  of 
these  provinces,  who  have  been  so  often  troubled  by  the  re- 
cital of  our  miseries,  we  rejoice  over  your  prosperity,  and  will 
you  refuse  us  your  compassion  in  our  trouble  ?  And  ye, 
•  firebrands  plucked  from  the  burning'  f  sad  and  venerable 
remnants  of  our  unhappy  churches,  beloved  brethren,  whom 
the  calamities  of  the  times  have  cast  upon  these  shores,  shall 
we  forget  the  miserable  relics  of  ourselves  ?  Groans  and 
lamentations  of  captives,  weeping  sacrificers,  mourning  vir- 
gins, solemn  feasts  interrupted,  roads  of  Zion  spread  with 
mourning,  backsliders,  martyrs,  spectacles  of  blood,  doleful 
sounds  of  wailing,  be  ye  the  movers  of  this  auditory.  '  If 
I  forget  thee,  0  Jerusalem,  let  my  right  hand  forget  her  cun- 
ning. If  I  do  not  remember  thee,  let  my  tongue  cleave  to 
the  roof  of  my  mouth,  if  I  prefer  not  Jerusalem  to  any  other 
joy. I  Peace  be  within  thy  walls  and  prosperity  in  thy 
palaces.  For  my  brethren's  and  my  companion's  sakes,  I  will 
now  say,  Peace  be  within  thee.'  ^  May  God  be  touched,  if 
not  by  the  ardor  of  our  prayers,  at  least  by  the  depth  of  our 
miseries  ;  if  not  by  the  misadventures  of  our  fortunes,  at  least 
by  the  desolations  of  his  sanctuaries ;  if  not  by  these  bodies 
which  we  painfully  drag  over  the  face  of  the  earth,  at  least 
by  these  souls,  of  which  they  would  fain  deprive  us." 

This  allusion  to  the  persecution  of  the  French  Protes- 
tants seemed  to  recall  his  thoughts  to  the  persecuting  king. 
The  silence  and  attention  of  the  audience  increased  tenfold. 
Every  one  expected  an  outbreak  of  indignation,  but  in  lieu 

*  Jer.  xlvli  6.  _  f  Amos  iv.  11. 

X  Ps.  cxxxvii.  5,  6.  §  Ps-  cxxii.  1,  8. 


NEW   year's    sermon   OF    1710.  65 

thereof,  religion  stopped  sliort  the  malediction  already 
trembling  on  his  lips,  and  caused  him  to  utter  words  of  par- 
don, accompanied  by  the  following  sublime  prayer : 

"  And  thou,  mighty  Prince,  whom  once  I  honored  as  my 
king,  whom  I  still  respect  as  the  scourge  of  the  Most 
High,  thou  also  shalt  have  a  portion  in  my  prayer.  These 
provinces,  which  thou  threatenest  with  thy  wrath,  but  which 
the  arm  of  the  Eternal  still  upholds  against  thee;  these 
climates,  which  thou  peoplest  with  fugitives,  but  with  fugi- 
tives who  are  imbued  with  charity  ;  these  walls,  which  inclose 
thousands  of  martyrs  of  thy  making,  but  whom  faith  makes 
triumphant,  may  all  yet  one  day  ring  with  blessings  in  thy 
favor.  God  grant  that  the  fatal  bondage,  which  shuts  out 
the  truth  from  thy  sight,  may  fall  from  before  thine  ej'-es. 
May  God  forget  the  rivers  of  blood,  with  which  thou  hast 
deluged  the  land,  and  which  thy  reign  has  seen  increase 
abroad.  May  God  be  pleased  to  efface  from  his  book  the 
evils,  which  thou  hast  done  to  us,  while  recompensing  those 
who  have  endured  them.  God  grant  that,  having  been  the 
minister  of  his  judgments  against  us  and  against  our  church, 
thou  mayest  be  yet  the  dispenser  of  his  graces,  and  the 
minister  of  his  mercies. 

"  I  return  to  you,  my  brethren;  I  include  you  all  in  my 
prayers.  May  God  send  down  his  Spirit  upon  this  assem- 
bly !  May  God  grant  that  this  year  be  to  us  a  year  of  his 
benevolence,  a  preparation  for  eternity.  .  .  .  But  it  suffices 
not,  that  I  should  wish  for  you  these  blessings — perseverance 
must  be  had  to  obtain  them  for  you — they  must  be  drawn 
from  the  Source  on  high.  It  suffices  not  that  a  mortal  man 
should  send  up  prayers  in  your  behalf;  the  ratification  of 
them  must  be  sought  from  him,  'who  is  the  blessed  and 
only  true  Potentate,  the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords,'  * 
We  must  make  our  way  to  the  throne  of  God  Himself;  we 
must  wrestle  with  the  mighty  God ;  we  must  compel  him, 

*  1  Timothy  vi.  15. 


66  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

by  our  tears  and  supplications,  and  suffer  him  not  to  go 
until  he  have  blessed  us.*  Magistrates,  people,  soldiers, 
citizens,  pastors,  and  flocks,  come,  bend  your  knees  before 
the  Monarch  of  the  world ;  and  you,  devouring  griefs  and 
cares  of  this  world,  begone,  begone  as  a  flight  of  vain  birds, 
and  trouble  us  not  in  our  holy  sacrifice."! 

Nevertheless,  the  refugees  often  gave  themselves  up  to 
discouragement  and  despair.  They  disti-usted  Providence, 
and  complained  of  the  miseries  which  seemed  to  dog  their 
footsteps.  Saurin,  in  his  sermon,  pronounced  on  the  occasion 
of  the  fast,  on  the  opening  of  the  campaign  of  1706,  which 
was  so  fatal  to  the  arms  of  Louis  XIV.,  attempted,  with  a 
boldness,  of  which  Christian  preaching  presents  but  few  ex- 
amples, to  convince  them  of  their  wrong,  and  to  justify  to 
them  the  ways  of  Grod.  The  exordium  of  this  sermon  is 
grand  and  majestical. 

"  I  conjure  you,  by  the  walls  of  this  temple  which  are 
yet  standing,  but  which  the  enemy  is  determined  to  beat 
down ;  by  the  love  you  bear  your  wives  and  children,  whose 
fate  is  already  decided  ;  by  the  love  you  bear  the  state  and 
your  religion ;  by  the  name  of  our  sovereigns,  of  our  generals, 
of  our  soldiers,  whose  prudence  and  valor  most  surely  never 
can  succeed,  but  with  the  aid  of  the  Most  High,  I  conjure  you 
to  bring  to  these  exercises  of  devotion,  attentive  minds  and 
willing  hearts.  "J 

After  these  exhortations  to  the  congregations,  he  dis- 
played to  the  eyes  of  the  faithful  who  filled  the  temple,  an 
extraordinary  spectacle.  As  in  the  days  of  the  prophet 
Micah,  the  Eternal  has  a  cause  to  try  between  himself  and 
his  people,  and  desiring  to  reply  to  the  accusations  of  his 
people,  and  to  bring  it  over  to  knowledgment  of  its  faults, 
and  to  repentance,  he  opens  the  solemn  debate  by  putting  to 

*  Falsely  quoted  from  Exodus  xxxii.  26,  which  contains  no  such 
or  similar  passage. 

f  Sermons  of  James  Saurin,  vol.  xi.  p.  144-146.     Paris,  1829. 
i  Sermons  of  James  Saurin,  vol.  viii.  p.  112. 


SERMON  ON  THE  GENERAL  FAST.  67 

them  this  question  :  ''  My  people,  what  have  I  done  to  ye  ?" 
"  Ah  !  Lord,  what  things  hast  thou  not  done  unto  us  !  The 
roads  of  Zion,  filled  with  mourning  ;  the  gates  of  Jerusalem, 
desolate ;  the  sacrificers  in  tears  ;  the  virgins  in  affliction  ;  the 
sanctuaries,  beaten  down  ;  the  wilderness,  peopled  with  fugi- 
tives;* the  children,  torn  from  their  parents;  the  prisons 
filled,  with  believers  ;  the  galleys,  crowded  with  martyrs ; 
the  blood  of  our  countrymen,  poured  abroad  like  water ;  the 
venerable  corpses  of  the  dead,  since  all  these  may  serve  as 
witnesses  for  religion's  sake,  now  cast  into  the  kennels  as 
food  for  the  birds  of  the  air  and  beasts  of  the  field ;  the 
walls  of  our  temples,  now  heaps  of  dust  and  ashes;  the 
mournful  relics  of  houses  consecrated  to  our  God ;  the 
flames,  the  wheels,  the  gibbets,  the  tortures,  unheard  of  until 
our  century,  let  them  appear  to  answer,  and  make  reply 
against  the  Eternal."! 

And  then  the  Protestant  preacher  justifies  the  Lord, 
after  the  example  of  the  ancient  prophets,  maintaining  that 
it  is  his  object  only  to  punish  the  sins  of  his  people,  and 
that,  even  among  his  severest  punishments,  he  has  shown 
the  clemency  of  a  merciful  father.  The  strange  dialogue 
continues.  The  Lord  in  his  turn  utters  his  complaints, 
and  when  his  just  reproaches  have  been  heard,  Saurin  ex- 
claims, "  Such  is  the  cause  which  the  Lord  brings  against 
you.  Justify  yourselves,  plead,  speak,  reply,  '  My  people, 
what  have  I  done  unto  you  ?  What  have  you  to  say,  in  your 
favor  ?  How  will  you  justify  your  ingratitude?"  and  when 
he  saw  his  audience  confused  and  in  consternation,  he  re- 
plied, in  their  behalf,  as  Israel  responded  to  Micah,  "With 
what  shall  I  prevent  the  Eternal  ?  with  what  shall  I  pros- 
trate myself  before  the  Lord  ?  "  J 

*  Several  of  these  expressions  occur  again  in  his  discourse  of  New 
Year's  Day,  1710.  These  repetitions,  common  enough  in  Saurin's 
writings,  are  one  of  his  greatest  faults  as  a  preacher. 

f  Sermons  of  James  Saurin,  vol.  viii.  p.  112.         ;{:  Isaiah  Hi.  10. 


68  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

In  another  sermon  on  the  text,  ''  les inofondeurs  divines^ 
he  consoles    and    raises    up    the     refugees,    showing    them 
Louis  XIV.,  so  long   happy  in  all   his   enterprises,  fallen 
from  his  fortunes,  and  bowed  in  his  turn  beneath  the  hand 
of  an  avenging  God.     It  is  impossible   to  read,  without  a 
feeling  of  painful   bitterness,  this   eloquent   invective  of  a 
Frenchman,  alienated  from   his  native    land,  and   rejoicing  ^ 
at  our  disasters  of  Ramilies  and  Hochstadt.     But  it  must  i 
not  be  forgotten,  in  his  behalf,  that  to  him,  as  to  most  of  the 
refugees  exasperated  by  their  misery,  the  subjects  of  LouiS; 
XIV.  were  but  enemies,  and  that  the  enemies  of  France  hadi 
become  their  fellow-citizens. 

"  I  see  him  at  first  equalling,  what  do  I  say,  excelling 
rather,  the  proudest  potentates,  elevated  to  a  height  which 
astonished  the  whole  world,  happy  in  his  family,  victorious 
in  his  arms,  increased  in  his  domains.     I   see  places  con- 
quered, battles  gained,  all  blows  aimed  at  his  throne  serving 
^  Qnly  to  strengthen  it.     I  see  an  idolatrous   court  exalting 
I  itself  above  men,  above  heroes,  and  equalling  itself  to  God 
I  himself.     I  see  all   parts  of  the  world,  inundated    by  his 
armies,  our  frontiers  threatened,  religion  tottering,  and  the 
Protestant  world  on  the  very  verge  of  ruin.     At  the  sight 
of  these  storms,  I  expect,  no  longer,  any  thing  beyond  the 
last  blow,  and  I  exclaim  aloud,  '  0  barque,  dismantled  by 
the  storm,  must  you  too  be  swallowed  in  the  waves  ?' 

"  Lo  !  the  Lord  hath  made  bare  his  holy  arm  in  the  eyes 
of  all  nations,*  he  conieth  forth  from  the  bosom  of  chaos, 
he  confounds  us  by  the  miracles  of  his  love,  after  having 
confounded  us  by  the  darkness  of  his  providence.  Lo  !  in 
the  space  of  two  short  campaigns,!  more  than  a  hundred 
thousand  of  the  enemy,  buried  in  the  waves,  or  cut  down 
by  the  swords  of  our  soldiery,  trampled  beneath  the  feet 
of  our  horses,  or  languishing  under  the  burthen  of  our 
chains.     Lo  !  mighty  provinces  reduced  to  our  sway.     Lo  ! 

*  Isaiah  lii.  10.  f  The  Campaigns  of  Hochstadt  and  Ramilies. 


REPROACHES    TO    BACKSLIDERS.  by 

our  noble  warriors  crowned  with  the  greenest  bays,  that 
have  met  our  view.  Lo  !  the  fatal  power,  which  would 
mount  the  skies,  tottering,  falling  into  ruin.  My  brethren, 
let  these  events  make  you  wise.  Let  us  not  presume  to 
measure  the  doings  of  God  by  our  standard,  but  let  us  learn 
to  respect  the  depths  of  his  providence."  * 

But  if  he  lavished  words  of  the  richest  consolation  on 
his  companions  in  exile,  if  he  exalted  and  glorified  the  men, 
who,  to  adopt  his  expression,  gained  for  all  their  spoils  their 
lives  only,!  he  is  pitiless  towards  those,  whom  he  accuses  of 
trafficking  with  truth,  and  whom  he  brands  with  the  name 
of  temporisers,  smiting  with  one  common  anathema  all  the 
Protestants  who  continued  in  France,  and  who  were  desig- 
nated officially  under  the  title  of  new  converts,  and  loads 
them  with  merciless  reproaches. 

"  Where  is  the  family  of  our  exiles,  which  may  not  apply 
to  itself  these  words  of  a  prophet :  '  The  violence  done  to 
me  and  to  my  flesh  be  upon  Babylon,  and  my  blood  upon 
the  inhabitants  of  Chaldea.'t  Ah,  scandal  of  the  reforma- 
tion !  ah,  memory,  worthy  to  open  an  eternal  source  of 
tears  !  Thou,  Rome,  who  insultest  and  bravest  us,  hope 
not  to  overwhelm  us  by  showing  us  the  galleys,  which 
thou  fillest  with  our  convicts,  whose  sufferings  thou  dost 
aggravate  by  the  cruel  lash,  by  the  chains,  with  which 
thou  dost  oppress  them,  by  the  vinegar,  which  thou  dost 
pour  into  their  wounds !  Hope  not  to  overpower  us  by 
the  sight  of  thy  black  dungeons,  unvisited  by  the  light  of 
day,  the  horrors  of  which  thou  dost  enhance  by  blending 
the  bodies  of  the  living  with  the  bodies  of  the  dead — places 
which,  despite  all  their  horrors,  are  changed  into  places 
of  delight  by  the  influences  of  that  grace,  which  God  instils 
into  the  heart  of  his  prisoners,  and  by  the  songs  of  joy 

■*  Saurin's  Sermons,  vol.  i.  pp.  163,  164. 

f  Sermon  on  the  Consecration  of  the  Temple  of  Voorberg. 

:}:  Jeremiah  li.  35. 


70  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

which  they  continnaUy  chant  to  his  glory.  Hope  not  to 
overpower  us,  by  showing  us  our  houses  ruined,  our  families 
dispersed,  and  our  congregations  wandering  over  the  face  of 
the  world.  These  matters  are  our  glory,  and  thou  dost  but 
celebrate  our  praises,  in  insulting  us  with  them.  Wouldst 
thou  overwhelm  us  with  confusion  ?  Show,  show  the  souls, 
which  thou  hast  won  from  us ;  make  it  a  reproach  to  us,  not 
that  thou  hast  extirpated  heresy,  but  that  thou  hast  driven 
us  to  deny  our  religion  ;  not  that  thou  hast  made  us  martyrs, 
but  that  thou  hast  made  us  renegadoes  from  the  truth."  * 

In  his  ordinary  sermons,  he  has  often  bursts  of  eloquence 
that  recall  to  our  minds  the  elevated  and  audacious  flight  of 
the  eagle  of  Meaux.  Erecting  himself  against  the  pusilla- 
nimous beings,  who  were  sending  in  their  conversions  day  by 
day,  without  thinking  of  the  death,  which  must  needs  one 
day  overtake  them,  *'Ah!"  he  exclaimed,  "would  to  God 
that  our  voice,  rendered  stunning  as  the  thunder,  and  the 
light  of  our  discourses,  rendered  brilliant  as  that  which 
overwhelmed  St.  Paul  on  his  way  to  Damascus,  might  cast 
you  down,  like  that  apostle,  at  the  feet  of  the  Lord.  Would 
to  Grod  that  the  idea  of  despair  and  the  awful  idea  of  the 
torments  of  the  other  world  might  fill  you  with  salutary 
terror,  and  force  you  to  repentance  P'f  In  his  fine  sermon 
on  the  equality  of  men,  he  has  conceived  a  picture,  of  appal- 
ling energy,  of  that  death  which  awaits  us  all. 

"  Whither  goest  thou,  0  rich  man,  who  boastest  thyself 
that  thy  fields  have  yielded  their  harvests ;  and  who  sayest 
to  thy  soul,  '  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many 
years,  take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry  ? '  Thou 
goest  to  the  grave.  And  whither  goest  thou,  0  poor  man, 
who  wearest  out  a  weary  life,  begging  thy  bread  from  door 
to  door,  who  livest  in  perpetual  anxiety,  how  thou  mayest 
procure  thee  the  food  to  support,  the  garments  to  cover  thee, 

*  Sermons  of  Saurin,  vol.  i.  p.  121. 

f  Extract  from  the  second  sermon  on  the  Repoi'ts  of  Conversions. 


CLAUDE.  71 

subject  to  the  charity  of  these,  to  the  contempt  of  those  ? 
Thou  goest  to  the  grave.  Whither  goest  thou,  0  nobly 
born,  who  dost  bedeck  thyself  with  borrowed  glories ;  who 
reckonest  thy  virtues  by  the  titles  of  thine  ancestors  ;  who 
dreamest  that  thou  art  formed  of  clay  more  precious  than 
the  rest  of  humanity  ?  Thou  goest  to  the  grave.  Whither 
goest  thou,  plebeian,  who  mockest  at  the  folly  of  the  noble, 
yet  boastest  thyself  only  after  another  fashion  ?  Thou  goest 
to  the  grave.  Whither  goest  thou,  0  merchant,  whose 
breath  of  life  is  in  the  increase  of  thy  capital  and  revenues  ? 
Thou  goest  to  the  grave.  Whither  go  we  all,  my  beloved 
auditors  ?  We  go  to  the  grave.  Is  death  a  respecter  of  per- 
sons, of  titles,  of  dignity,  of  wealth  ?  Where  is  Alexander  ? 
Where  is  Caesar  ?  Where  are  those  conquerors,  whose 
mere  names  made  the  whole  world  tremble  ?  They  were, 
but  are  no  longer."* 

The  discourses  of  Saurin  on  charity,  and  on  divine  com- 
passion, abound  in  passages  in  which  his  soul  displays  itself 
in  a  tender  and  more  touching  form.  His  fine  soul  seems  to 
breathe  forth  its  every  feeling  in  this  simple  yet  pathetic 
cry  :  "  You  love  me,  and  I  die."  It  is  not  hard  to  judge 
of  the  effects  produced  by  that  noble  voice,  which  resounded 
during  five-and-twenty  years  under  the  vaulted  aisles  of  the 
temple  of  the  Hague  !  Nothing,  however,  can  convey  a  clearer 
idea  of  his  influence,  if  it  be  not  the  deep  veneration  and 
pious  affection  with  which  the  memory  of  the  great  orator, 
perpetually  kept  alive  by  the  assiduity  with  which  his  works 
are  read,  is  still  regarded  in  Holland. 

Not  far  removed  from  Saurin,  though  of  inferior  rank, 
other  orators  of  "  the  Refuge"  contributed,  in  but  a  little 
inferior  degree,  to  furnish  models  of  Christian  eloquence  to 
the  Walloon  and  Netherlandish  preachers.  Born  in  1619, 
at  Le  Sauvetat,  near  Villefranche,  in  Rouerque,  of  a  father 
himself  a  minister,  Claude  was  admitted  to  the  ministry  at 
*  Extract  from  sermon  on  the  equality  of  men. 


72  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

the  age  of  twenty-six.  He  was  at  first  attached  to  a  church 
held  in  fief,  and  afterward  preached  successively  at  Sainte- 
Affrique,  Nimes,  and  Montauban.  Having  opposed  the 
efforts  of  some  of  his  people,  who  were  desirous  of  reuniting 
the  Protestants  to  the  Romish  Church,  the  exercise  of  his 
pastoral  functions  was  forbidden  to  him  by  the  court  in 
Languedoc  and  Quercy.  But  his  reputation  soon  brought 
about  his  call  to  Paris,  and  he  was  minister  at  Charenton» 
from  1666  until  1685.  After  the  revocation,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  retire  into  Holland,  where  the  Prince  of  Orange 
received  him  with  deference  and  respect.  The  refugees  con- 
sidered him  as  the  oracle  of  their  party,  and  as  the  theolo- 
gian most  capable  of  combating  Amand  and  Bossuet.  His 
exterior,  it  is  true,  had  nothing  imposing ;  his  voice  was  even 
disagreeable,  and  his  style  was  equally  lacking  in  brilliancy 
and  color.  But  these  failings  were  compensated  by  a  manly 
and  vigorous  eloquence,  and  by  a  close  and  pressing  method 
of  reasoning,  which  carried  conviction  to  the  soul.  He  had, 
above  all,  a  special  fitness  for  the  treatment  of  controversial 
questions,  and  his  method  of  instruction  was  so  clear  and  so 
happily  appropriated  to  the  customs  of  the  pulpit,  that  his 
disciples  derived  from  his  discourses  the  same  benefits,  which 
the  most  celebrated  masters  received  from  the  old  Protestant 
academies.  Thence  arose  the  great  concourse  of  students 
who  crowded  about  him.  Thence  the  influence  which  he 
exerted,  by  their  intervention  yet  more  than  of  himself,  on 
Walloon  and  Dutch  preaching.  All  that  is  left  of  him  is  a 
small  number  of  unprinted  sermons.  The  most  remarkable 
is  that  which  he  delivered  at  the  Hague,  on  the  twenty-first 
of  November,  1685,  that  is  to  say,  one  month  only  after  his 
departure  from  France.  The  old  man  banished,  and  all  but 
dying,  thanked  therein  the  magistrates  of  the  United  Prov- 
inces for  the  noble  use  they  made  of  their  riches  in  aiding 
the  poor  refugees,  whom  the  practice  of  their  common  creed 
had  driven  from  their    countries  and  their   homes.     Who 


73 

would  not  have  been  deeply  moved  in  listening  to  tliese 
words  at  once  so  simple  and  so  touching  : 

"  May  God  himself  deign  to  be  your  remunerator,  and 
restore  to  you  a  thousand-fold  the  good  which  he  has  put  it 
into  your  hearts  to  do  us.  Suffer  us,  however,  in  order  to 
bring  ourselves  more  nearly  to  your  affections,  to  say  to  you 
as  Ruth  said  once  to  Naomi,  we  come  here  to  make  but  one 
body  with  you,  and,  inasmuch  as  your  God  is  our  God,  your 
laws  shall  be  our  laws,  and  your  interests  ours  also.  Where 
you  live,  we  will  live ;  where  you  die,  we  will  die  also,  and 
we  will  be  buried  in  your  tombs.  Love  us,  then,  as  5"0ur 
brothers  and  your  countrymen,  and  compassionate  our  weak- 
nesses. We  are  born  under  a  sky,  which  gives  us  not  that 
sage,  discreet,  and  self- constrained  temperament,  which  you 
possess  by  birth.  Support  us,  therefore,  for  it  is  just  that 
we  should  form  ourselves,  so  far  as  it  is  in  our  power  to  do, 
according  to  the  rules  of  your  prudence  ;  and  we  hope  also 
of  your  equity,  that  it  will  not  reckon  against  us  all  our 
infirmities. 

"  For  you,  my  brethren,  who  are  here  as  the  miserable 
relics  of  a  great  disaster,  it  is  you  especially  to  whom  I 
should  address  these  words  :  '  And  for  the  day  of  adversity 
take  ye  heed.'  It  is  you  who  are  addressed  therein.  I  con- 
fess that  one  of  our  first  duties,  on  entering  this  state,  is  to 
thank  God  for  having  delivered  us  from  so  rude  and  violent 
a  tempest,  and  for  having  brought  us  happily  to  this  port ; 
and,  in  this  light  more  especially,  may  we  call  this  the  day  of 
our  welfare.  But,  although  this  welfare  be  an  inestimable 
gift,  it  is  nevertheless  mingled  with  so  many  mournful  recol- 
lections, and  mixed  up  with  so  much  bitterness,  that  it  would 
require  the  greatest  insensibility  not  to  regard  it  as  the  day 
of  the  greatest  adversity  that  could  have  befallen  us.  I 
propose  not  to  enter  upon  a  long  consideration  of  our  mis- 
fortunes, nor  to  dwell  upon  the  secondary  causes  which  have 
brought  them  to  pass.     Our  misfortunes  are  known  to  you, 


74  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

and  how  should  they  not  be  so  ?  They  are  known  to  the 
whole  of  Europe ;  and  as  for  the  secondary  causes,  as  they 
are  hut  impure  canals,  and  inferior  sources,  which  the  ma- 
lignity of  the  age  has  poisoned,  it  is  well  that  we  should 
cover  them  with  a  \e'A,  for  fear  of  awakening  against  our- 
selves sentiments,  which  we  do  not  desire  to  awaken.  Let 
us  leave  them,  therefore,  to  the  judgment  of  the  Lord,  or 
rather,  let  us  beseech  the  Lord  to  change  them,  and  not  to 
impute  unto  us  their  rancor."* 

Beyond  these  sermons,  there  remain  to  us  of  Claude  only 
a  few  controversies,  on  religious  subjects,  and  a  celebrated 
treatise,  which  appeared  in  Holland,  in  1686,  under  this  title, 
"  The  Complaints  of  the  Protestants  in  France."  The  two 
following  passages,  which  we  borrow  from  the  last  publica- 
tion, are,  perhaps,  sterile  of  eloquence,  but  the  force  and 
weight  of  the  expression  every  where  respond  to  that  of  the 
thought,  and  the  deep  conviction  of  the  writer  communicates 
itself  irresistibly  to  the  reader. 

"  After  this  breach  of  promise  and  reversal,  what  would 
there  have  been,  thenceforth,  firm  or  inviolable  in  France  ? 
I  say  not  only  for  the  fortunes  of  individuals  or  the  honor 
of  great  houses,  but  still  more  for  general  establishments, 
for  other  laws,  for  sovereign  corporations,  for  the  regulation 
of  justice  and  police,  in  a  word,  for  all  that  tends  to  the 
foundation  and  support  of  society,  even  to  the  inalienable 
rights  of  the  crown  and  the  forms  of  society.  There  are,  in 
this  kingdom,  very  many  enlightened  persons  ;  I  speak  not 
of  those  versifiers,  who  for  the  value  of  a  dozen  madrigals  or 
of  some  panegyric  of  royalty,  receive  as  their  pay  benefices 
and  pensions,  nor  of  those  book-makers,  on  the  right  or  on 
the  left,  who  know  every  thing  except  that  which  it  would  be 
good  for  them  to  know — namely,  that  they  are  persons  of  the 

*  This  passage  is  to  be  found  in  a  collection  of  sermons  on  divers 
texts  of  Holy  Writ,  delivered  by  Jean  Claude,  p.  486.  Genev.i. 
Samuel  de  Journes.    1693. 


PROTEST    AGAINST    LOUIS    XIV.  75 

smallest  consideration ;  but  I  do  speak  of  those  wise,  solid, 
and  clear-sighted  spirits,  which  see  from  afar  the  conse- 
quences of  facts,  and  know  whereby  to  judge  of  them.  It  is 
not  easy  to  conjecture,  how  they  should  have  failed  to  per- 
ceive, what  is  but  too  perceptible,  that  '  the  state  is  stabbed 
through  and  through  by  the  same  thrust  which  stabbed  the 
Protestants,'  and  that  the  revocation  of  the  Edict,  done  so 
insultingly,  leaves  nothing  sacred  or  immutable.  It  is  far 
from  true,  that  the  detestation  of  our  religion  is  general  to 
the  sentiments  of  the  Romanists,  since  it  is  certain  that,  set- 
ting aside  the  devotees,  and  those  who  are  called  the  propa- 
gandists of  the  faith,  neither  the  people  nor  the  nobles  have 
displayed  the  slightest  animosity  against  us,  but  that,  on  the 
contrary,  thay  have  pitied  our  misfortunes."  * 

A  little  farther,  solemnly  protesting,  in  the  name  of  all 
the  refugees,  against  the  injustice  of  Louis  XIV. — 

"  We  desire,"  he  exclaimed,  "  that  this  writing  which  con- 
tains our  just  complaints,  may  serve  us,  before  Heaven  and 
earth,  as  a  protest  against  the  wrongs  done  us  in  the  realm 
of  Trance  ;  particularly  we  protest  against  the  Edict  of  the 
month  of  October,  1685,  as  against  a  manifest  surprise,  per- 
petrated on  His  Majesty's  justice,  and  as  a  visible  abuse 
of  the  royal  authority  and  power,  the  Edict  of  Nantes  being 
by  its  very  nature  irrevocable  and  inviolable,  beyond  the 
reach  of  any  human  power,  and  made,  in  order  to  be  a  per- 
petual treaty  between  the  Komanists  and  us ;  an  act  of 
public  faith,  and  a  fundamental  law  of  the  state,  which  can 
be  infringed  by  no  authority  whatsoever.  We  protest  against 
all  the  consequences  of  this  revocation ;  against  the  extinc- 
tion of  the  exercise  of  our  religion  in  the  whole  kingdom  of 
France ;  against  the  infamies  and  cruelties  practised  upon 
our  corpses,  in  refusing  them  burial,  in  casting  them  fn  un- 
consecrated  places,  whither  they  were  disgracefully  dragged 

*  Complaints  of  the  French  Protestants,  pp.  88,  89.  Edition  of 
Cologne,  1713. 


76  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

on  hurdles ;  against  the  abstraction  of  children,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  instructing  them  in  the  Popish  religion.  We  pro- 
test, above  all,  against  that  impious  and  detestable  practice, 
to  which  France  still  holds  fast,  of  making  religion  depend 
on  the  will  of  a  mortal  and  corruptible  prince,  and  of 
treating  perseverance  in  faith  as  an  act  of  rebellion  and  a 
state  offence,  which  is,  in  fact,  to  make  of  man  a  Grod."* 

Pierre  Jurieu,  like  Claude,  worked  greater  influence  on 
the  morals  of  men,  by  his  controversial  writings,  than  by  his 
sermons.  Born  at  Mer,  near  Orleans,  in  1637,  he  studied  at 
the  Academy  of  Saumur,  afterward  visited  the  universities 
of  Holland  and  England,  and  was  recalled,  after  the  bril- 
liant success  of  his  "  Treatise  on  Devotion,"  to  fill  the  chair 
of  Hebrew  and  theology  at  Sedan.  The  suppression  of  that 
academy  determined  him  to  withdraw  to  Rotterdam,  where 
he  was  nominated  pastor  of  the  Walloon  church  and  profes- 
sor of  theology.  It  was  at  the  period,  when  Bossuet,  having 
combated  the  pretensions  of  the  Ultramontane  party,  and 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  liberties  of  the  Gallic  Church, 
was  bringing  to  bear  afresh  his  formidable  polemics  on  "  the 
Reformed,"  and  was  pursuing  the  refugees  to  the  last  asylums 
they  had  found  against  the  vengeance  of  Louis  XIV.  A 
masterpiece  of  dogmatism,  "  The  Explanation  of  the  Doc- 
trines of  the  Church,"  had  already  sprung  from  this  burning 
strife.  He  resumed  it,  in  1688,  by  a  masterpiece  of  history, 
"  The  History  of  Changes."  The  exiled  preachers  were 
strangely  embarrassed.  They  could  not  refute  the  Bishop 
of  Meaux,  unless  by  meeting  him  at  his  starting  post,  except 
in  denying  that  change  is  a  sign  of  error.  Orthodox  Pro- 
testantism was  weakly  defended  by  the  organ  of  Basnage, 
who  endeavored  to  oppose  to  the  picture  of  changes,  traced  by 
the  champion  of  the  Romish  Church,  another  picture  of  the 
changes  of  that  very  church,  and  the  unchanged  unity  of 

*  Complaints  of  the  Protestants  of  France,  pp.  88,  89.  Edition 
of  Cologne.     1*743. 


HISTORY    OF    CHANGES.  77 

all  the  fundamental  dogmas  in  all  the  reformed  communities. 
Rational  Protestantism  answered  more  boldly.    Jurieu,  who 
at  that  period  represented  it  with  a  certain  degree  of  bril- 
liancy, sought  not  to  deny  the  variations  ;  he  confessed  them 
without  evasion ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  he  labored  to  demon- 
strate  that  they  had  been  frequent  throughout  the  annals 
of  Christianity ;  that  religion  itself  had  been  composed,  so 
to  speak,  piece  by  piece,  and  that  the  truth  of  God  had  been 
deciphered   by  fragments.      He  dared  to  maintain,  in  his 
"  Treatise  on  the   Power  of  the   Church,"  that  the  great 
Christian  society  is   composed   of  all  the  several  societies, 
which  recognize  the  law  of  Christ,  and  have  held  to  the  foun- 
dations of  the  faith.     Bossuet  replied  victoriously,  charging 
it  against  his  adversary,  that  he  was  breaking  down  all  the 
divisions  of  sects  for  the  aggrandizement  of  his  own  church, 
to  such  a  degree,  that  he  would  find  it  impossible  to  exclude 
either  the  Arians  or  the  Socinians.     Perhaps  Jurieu  might 
have  found  a  stronger  argument  in  defence  of  his  doctrine, 
had  he  taken  one  step  farther  in  advance,  and  proclaimed  the 
absolute  independence  of  individual  conscience.     It  must  be 
admitted  that,  in  this  case,  an  iirperceptible  line  of  demar- 
cation only  would  have  separati- J  him,  and  that  barely,  from 
philosophy ;  but  Jurieu  corld  never  consent  to  overstep  that 
limit.     On  another  capital  point,  he  was  the  only  person  / 
who   dared  encounter  Bossuet  with  resolution  scarcely  free  ■ 
from  the  charge  of  rashness.     "  The  History  of  Chiuiges  " 
charged  the  Protestants  with  having  authorized  revolt  for 
religion's  sake,  in  defiance  of  the  evangelical  precept,  which 
commands  obedience  to  constituted  authorities.     Contrary 
to  the  Calvinistic  tradition  preserved  by  Basnage,  Jurieu 
decidedly  upheld  the  right  of  resistance  to  tyranny,  and  for- 
mally proclaimed  the  sovereignty  of  the  people;  thus  re- 
animating  the    great  but  dangerous    principle   which   had 
been  abandoned  in  France,  since  the  close  of  the  religious 
wars. 


78  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

Doctrines  so  audacious  could  not  but  compromise  and 
ruin  him  in  the  opinion  of  many  of  his  comrades  in  exile. 
The  calamities,  which  accompanied  the  emigration  of  so  many 
fugitives,  and  the  new  persecutions  which  were  brought  on  by 
the  war  of  the  Cevennes,  ceased  not  to  embitter  his  hot 
and  zealous  temper.  He  attacked  the  Romish  religion  with 
violence  unworthy  of  a  clergyman,  and  hesitated  not  pro- 
phetically to  announce  its  speedy  downfall.  His  friends  en- 
deavored in  vain  to  moderate  the  excesses  of  his  fiery  zeal. 
Their  remostrances  served  only  to  irritate  him  yet  farther ; 
and  he  assailed  them  also  with  ferocious  libels.  Bayle,  Bas- 
nage,  Sauriu,  were  treated  with  no  more  respect  than  Bos- 
suet,  Fenelon,  Arnaud,  or  Nicole.  These  continued  strug- 
gles speedily  wore  him  out.  He  died  in  Rotterdam  in  1713, 
having  lost  consideration  in  his  latter  days  for  his  political 
prophecies,  proved  false  by  the  event,  but  leaving  behind 
him  a  multitude  of  works,  which  left  a  vast  influence  on  the 
spirits  of  men.  Perhaps  the  only  one,  which  has  not  suffered 
by  time,  and  which  is  not  disfigured  by  an  aggressive  char- 
acter, is  his  "  Critical  History  of  Dogmas,"  in  which  he 
established,  with  no  less  sagacity  than  erudition,  the  succes- 
sion of  religious  systems  among  the  peoples  of  antiquity. 

Another  minister  of  Rotterdam,  Pierre  Du  Bosc,  played 
a  more  modest,  but  far  more  useful  part,  than  Jurieu.  Son 
of  an  advocate  in  the  parliament  of  Rouen,  he  was  born  at 
Bayeux  in  1632,  was  appointed  pastor  in  Caen,  while  as  yet 
very  young,  and  acquired  so  great  a  reputation  for  eloquence, 
that  the  church  of  Paris  was  anxious  to  attach  him  thereto. 
He  refused  this  honor,  not  choosing  to  leave  his  native  land. 
Banished  for  some  time  to  Chalons,  under  the  pretext  that 
he  had  made  direct  attacks  on  the  Romish  religion,  he  con- 
tracted close  relations  of  amity  with.  Conrart,  and  with  Ab- 
lancourt,  who  died  in  his  arms.  When  the  rumor  went 
abroad,  in  1668,  that  Louis  XIV.  was  about  to  suppress  the 
Chambers  of  the  Edict  at  Paris  and  Rouen,  he  was  unani- 


BANISHMENT    OF    MINISTERS.  79 

mously  designated  by  the  deputies  of  the  churches  to  bear 
their  remonstrances  to  the  feet  of  the  monarch.  After  the 
audience,  going  into  the  apartments  of  the  Queen,  where  all 
the  court  awaited  him,  the  King  hesitated  not  to  declare, 
"  Madame,  I  have  just  listened  to  the  man,  who  speaks  the 
best  of  all  my  kingdom."  And  turning  to  the  courtiers,  he 
added,  "  It  is  certain,  at  least,  that  I  never  heard  one  speak 
so  well."  *  Seventeen  years  afterward,  when  the  decree  of 
banishment  had  gone  into  effect  against  the  ministers,  Den- 
mark, Holland,  and  England  disputed  the  honor  of  giving 
shelter  to  the  illustrious  exile.  Holland  enabled  him  to  re- 
main nearer  to  Normandy.  He  embarked,  therefore,  for 
Rotterdam,  where  he  was  appointed  pastor,  and  where  he 
was  successively  rejoined  by  his  best  friends,  the  Marquises 
of  Tors,  of  Langeay,  of  the  Isle  du  Guat,  of  La  Musse,  of 
Verdelle,  and  of  Yrigny ;  Messieurs  De  Saint  Martin,  De  la 
Bazoche,  De  la  Pierre,  De  Yillazel,  De  Beringhen,  counsellors 
in  the  sovereign  courts  ;  the  ladies  De  Tors,  De  Saint  Martin, 
Le  Coq,  De  Chuis  ;  the  demoiselles  De  Villarnoul  Le  Dan- 
jeau,  De  Coursillon,  De  Langeay,  De  la  Moussage.f  The  suc- 
cess, which  he  obtained  as  a  preacher,  was  immense.  He 
was  considered  as  a  perfect  orator.  His  fine,  sonorous  voice 
added  yet  farther  to  the  impression  produced  by  his  dis- 
courses. One  particular  point,  which  distinguished  him 
from  all  the  other  ministers  of  "  the  Refuge,"  was  his  attach- 
ment to  the  doctrines  of  Saint  Augustine.  Thence  he  was 
called  "  the  preacher  of  grace."  But  his  career  was  brief  as 
it  was  brilliant  and  productive.  He  died  at  Rotterdam  in 
less  than  four  years  after  his  departure  from  Normandy. 

Daniel  de  Superville,  the  colleague  of  Du  Bosc  in  the 
Walloon  church  at  Rotterdam,  was  born  in  1657,  at  Sau- 
mur,  where  he  commenced  his  studies,  which  he  completed 
at  Geneva  under  the  ablest  masters.     So  early  as  1683,  the 

*  Life  of  Pierre  du  Bosc,  by  Legendre,  p.  63.     Rotterdam,  1694. 
f  Life  of  Pierre  du  Bosc,  p.  151. 


80  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

booted  missions,  of  which  Poitou  was  the  theatre,  had  de- 
termined him  to  retire  into  England,  when  the  church  of 
Loiidun  sent  him  a  call,  which  retarded  his  departure  for  that 
kingdom  by  the  space  of  two  years  only.  A  difficult  trial 
preceded  his  exile.  Cited  to  report  himself  at  Paris,  in  order 
to  give  explanations  concerning  a  sermon,  notes  of  which  had 
been  taken,  and  which  was  treated  as  seditious,  he*  found 
himself  surrounded  by  converters,  who  imagined  that  a  young 
man  of  such  polish,  and  of  manners  so  elegant,  would  speed- 
il}^  be  brought  over.  But  it  was  in  vain  that  they  led  him 
about  in  the  train  of  the  court,  from  Paris  to  Versailles,  and 
from  Versailles  to  Fontainebleau  ;  he  persisted  in  his  creed, 
and  went  his  way.  Arrested,  and  separated  from  his  wife 
and  child,  he  succeeded  in  recovering  his  liberty,  and  arrived 
at  Maestricht,  whither  Madame  de  Superville  was  sent  to 
meet  him.  He  selected  Rotterdam  among  all  the  posts 
which  were  offered  to  him,  and  very  shortly  acquired  there 
the  reputation  of  a  deep  and  ingenious  preacher.  He  often 
said  that  the  Christian  orator  ought  to  have  religion  in  his 
heart,  yet  more  than  in  his  spirit,  and  it  may  be  said  that, 
in  this  respect,  he  followed  up  the  precept  which  he  gave  to 
others.  This  uncommon  gentleness,  clearness  and  purity  of 
his  speech,  the  natural  style  of  his  delivery,  his  gentlemanly 
and  almost  courtly  manners  made  him,  in  fact,  a  sort  of  Pro- 
testant Fenelon.  In  1691,  he  had  the  honor  to  be  invited  to 
the  Hague,  to  preach  in  the  presence  of  the  new  King  of 
England,  who  had  manifested  a  desire  to  hear  him.  On  the 
day  following  the  Peace  of  Ryswick,  he  ascended  the  pulpit, 
and  took  that  happy  intelligence  for  the  subject  of  his  dis- 
course. On  the  10th  of  September,  1704,  he  pronounced 
the  sermon  of  thanksgiving  for  the  victory  of  Hochstet,  won 
by  the  allies,  under  the  leading  of  Marlborough  and  Eugene. 
"  The  noble  leaders,  on  either  side,  were  able,  intrepid, 
veteran ;  the  troops,  good  and  chosen  soldiers.  But  the 
enemy  had  the  advantage  of  ground;  he  had  the  advantage 


BATTLE    OF    HOCHSTET.  81 

even  of  numbers,  and  he  was  so  well  posted,  that  he  could 
only  be  attacked  at  a  mighty  risk.  But  the  Eternal,  who 
has  resolved  to  reply  to  us  '  by  terrible  things,  done  in  jus- 
tice,' has  taught  us  to  overcome  all  obstacles.  '  March  ! 
march  ! '  he  said  with  the  still  secret  voice,  he  said  in  the  re- 
solution with  which  he  inspired  our  generals,  in  the  fire, 
the  courage  which  he  breathed  into  the  hearts  of  our  soldiers. 
'  Here  lies  the  valley  of  Decision.  Fear  nothing,  for  I  have 
delivered  your  enemies  into  your  hands.  Then  was  it  that 
they  fell  into  our  power,  those  insolent  adversaries  who 
scoffed  at  our  enterprise,  and  already  reckoned  upon  vic- 
tory as  certain."  Resentment  and  despair,  as  can  plainly 
be  seen,  had  effaced  from  the  heart  of  Superville  every 
sentiment  of  nationality.  France  was  no  more  his  coun- 
try ;  the  abasement  of  Louis  XIV.,  the  humiliation  of 
the  armies  of  France,  were  to  him  a  subject  of  rejoicing,  a 
consolation,  a  hope  for  the  persecuted  churches.  It  is  not, 
however,  in  these  casual  sermons  that  he  shows  himself  to  the 
greatest  advantage.  He  excels  more  manifestly,  and  dis- 
plays higher  powers  and  qualities  as  a  Christian  orator,  in 
his  didactic  preaching.  A  better  judgment  may  be  formed 
of  his  eloquence  from  the  following  passage  borrowed  by 
his  fine  discourse  on  forbidden  vengeance  : 

"  Vengeance  is  the  daughter  of  passion  and  of  hatred. 
It  is  a  restless  and  devouring  passion,  which  consumes  the 
bosom  in  which  it  was  conceived.  Oh  !  how  many  fires  has 
not  that  fury  enkindled  within,  or  e'er  she  carried  them 
abroad  !  How  many  blazing  torches  hath  she  not  !  how 
many  envenomed  serpents  to  torture,  day  and  night,  the 
vindictive  soul  !  Imagine  to  yourselves  those  struggles, 
those  palpitations,  those  contractions  of  the  heart,  those 
sleepless  nights,  those  restless  impulses,  those  movements  of 
fury,  which  men  experience  while  agitating  in  their  heads 
some  fatal  dreams  of  vengeance.  Is  it  not  most  miserable 
to  torment  ourselves,  because  some  other  have  offended  us  ? 
VOL.  n — 4* 


82  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

By  pondering  on  an  injury,  one  drives  it  but  the  deeper  into 
his  heart.  One  makes  the  stab  but  deeper,  and  renders  it 
more  difficult  to  heal  We  often  make  unto  ourselves  more 
evil  than  our  bitterest  enemy  has  ever  hoped  to  make  us, 
and  we  but  serve  his  enmity  completely,  whereas,  by  wiping 
away  all  memory  of  the  injury  we  have  received  from  him, 
we  cheat  him  of  the  malice,  which  he  thought  to  gratify  upon 
us." 

His  superiority  was  as  conspicuous  in  doctrinal  preach- 
ing, from  which  he  had  especial  care,  by  a  method  until 
then  unpractised,  to  exclude  all  the  parade  of  learning,  and 
the  useless  questions  which  other  ministers  delighted  to 
raise,  applying  himself  rather  to  impress  on  the  souls  of  his 
hearers  the  principal  truths  of  the  Grospel,  and  to  persuade 
their  hearts  through  their  affections. 

"  The  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  God  is  never  difficult  to 
the  good  man  ;  and,  in  the  greatest  atheist  that  lives,  the 
heart  has  always  something  far  removed  from  the  irreligion 
of  the  intellect. 

"  The  fear  of  Grod  is,  at  all  times,  a  better  counsellor 
than  the  Portico  or  the  Lyceum,  than  all  the  philosophy, 
all  the  policy,  of  the  world.  Follow,  therefore,  always,  and 
broadly,  the  part  of  piety.  It  is  the  greatest  shrewdness, 
it  is  the  greatest  wisdom  of  life. 

"  It  disturbs  us,  at  times,  to  observe,  in  the  conduct  of 
Providence,  its  delays,  if  I  so  dare  speak,  its  long  tarryings. 
It  marches  only  as  great  armies  march,  heavily,  halting  often, 
slowly  as  we  deem  it.  It  resembles  those  rivers  which  make 
so  many  turns  and  returns,  as  they  wind  deviously,  and 
which  roll  along  their  deep  and  mighty  waters  with  a  flow  so 
tranquil  that  we  may  scarce  perceive  their  current."* 

SemioDS  on  Divers  Texts  of  Holy  Writ,  by  Daniel  de  Super. 
ville,  Minister  of  .the  Walloon  Church  at  Rotterdam,  1726.  V.  Say- 
ons.  History  of  French  Literature  in  Foreign  Lands,  vol.  ii.  pp. 
99-105. 


WILLIAM    THE    TACITURN.  83 

Among  the  other  ministers,  who  brought  Dutch  and 
Walloon  preaching  to  perfection,  David  Martin,  and  Phili- 
ponneau  de  Hautecourt,  may  be  cited.  The  former,  ap- 
pointed preacher  at  Utrecht,  published  a  translation  of  the 
Bible,  which  was  universally  adopted  by  the  French  churches 
of  Holland,  Switzerland,  and  England.  Considered  as  a 
classical  work,  it  has  remained  in  use  in  these  three  coun- 
tries ;  and  the  French  Bibles,  spread  through  the  whole 
world  by  the  London  Bible  Society,  are,  to  this  day,  no  more 
than  repeated  editions  of  the  work  of  this  pastor.  The  se- 
cond, ex-preacher  and  professor  of  Saumur,  received  in  the 
university  of  Friseland  a  chair,  which  he  occupied  for  many 
years,  and  formed  numerous  disciples,  who  propagated  in 
the  United  Provinces  the  method  peculiar  to  the  ministers 
of  the  "Refuge." 

It  is  proved  that  Walloon  preaching  received  a  new  life 
from  the  ministers  banished  by  the  government  of  Louis 
XIV.  Nevertheless,  one  would  err  in  attributing  to  them 
exclusively  the  rapid  propagation  of  the  French  tongue  in 
the  Low  Countries.  Doubtless,  they  aided  to  spread  it,  and 
to  render  o-eneral  the  knowledge  of  the  most  polished  idiom 
at  that  time  spoken  in  all  Europe  ;  but  it  is  neither  they, 
nor  the  other  refugees,  who  enforced  on  Holland  the  neces- 
sity of  this  novel  study.  It  might,  perhaps,  have  been  within 
the  power  of  William  of  Orange  to  substitute  the  English 
tongue  for  that  of  the  court  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  to  have 
given  rank  to  the  masterpieces  of  Shakspeare  and  Milton 
above  those  of  Racine  and  Moliere.  But  that  great  Prince 
admired,  with  all  the  rest  of  Europe,  the  classic  literature 
of  that  great  age,  which  is  certainly  the  noblest  title  of  glory 
owned  by  the  human  intellect.  There  existed,  moreover,  in 
his  own  family,  a  traditional  respect  for  that  perfect  tongue, 
which  tended  at  that  time  to  substitute  itself  for  Latin,  as 
the  universal  language.  His  grandfather,  William  the  Taci- 
turn, had  married  Louise  de  Chatillon,  the  daughter  of  Co- 


84  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

ligny.  Frencli  prevailed  in  bis  court,  and  when  the  illus- 
trious founder  of  Dutch  liberty  fell  beneath  the  knife  of  the 
assassin,  and  cried  in  the  death  struggle,  "  Mj  God,  have 
pity  on  me  and  on  my  poor  people  !  "  these,  the  last  words 
which  he  uttered,  were  in  the  French  language  ;  and  the 
French  was  the  tongue  of  his  son  and  his  grandson.  French 
literature,  therefore,  found  no  obstacle  in  acclimating  itself 
on  the  soil  of  Holland,  and,  with  it,  the  usage  of  couversincr 
in  that  idiom  was  quickly  adopted  in  all  good  families.  Nev- 
ertheless, it  must  be  admitted  that  the  refugees  rendered  its 
use  popular  by  their  preaching,  by  their  works,  and  by  their 
instruction.  The  numerous  schools,  which  they  founded  in 
almost  all  their  towns,  the  most  celebrated  of  which  owed  its 
origin  to  one  of  the  brothers  of  Luzac,  the  houses  of  educa- 
tion which  they  established  for  young  persons,  and  girls, 
still  farther  hastened  this  result.  Ere  long,  no  other  lan- 
guage than  the  French  was  used  at  all  in  diplomacy  with 
other  powers,  and  from  that  time  forth  there  was  no  member 
of  the  magistracy  of  Amsterdam,  the  Hague,  Leyden,  or 
Rotterdam,  who  did  not  pride  himself  on  speaking  correctly, 
on  writing,  and  teaching  his  children  the  French  tongue. 
French  insinuated  itself  even  into  the  Dutch  tongue,  and  in- 
troduced into  it  new  idioms  and  new  expressions.  The  refu- 
gees introduced  it  first  conversationally,  and  after  that  into 
the  written  tongue.  From  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury Dutch  writers  hesitated  no  longer  to  adopt  the,  words  * 
officier  and  ingenicur.  They  substituted  the  word  resolu- 
tien,  for  that  of  staatsbesluiten.  The  French  fashions,  which 
gradually  prevailed  in  Holland,  and  the  use  of  which  was 
extended  by  the  refugees,  also  compelled  the  Hollanders  to 

*  Various  French  words  adopted  as  Dutch.  Anglice,  officer,  en- 
gineer, resolution,  doublet,  lace  collar  with  tassels,  shirt,  baldric, 
b leeches— though  it  appears  rather  strange  that  the  Dutch  sliould 
have  had  no  vernacular  name  for  the  last  article  and  last  but  one 
named. 


BAYLE.  85 

adopt  tho  words  "  pourpoint,  rahat  des  deriteUes  a  srlands^ 
chemise^  baudrier,  gregues,  and  many  others,  for  which  the 
national  language  had  no  equivalents. 

The  increasing  popularity  of  the  French  language  pro- 
duced a  marked  influence  on  the  progress  of  education  in 
the  middle  classes  of  society.  Before  the  emigration,  litera- 
ture and  sciences  were  taught  in  Latin,  insomuch  that  all 
the  graver  studies  were  unappreciable  to  all  those  who  were 
not  persons  of  learning.  Women  were  utterly  excluded  from 
these  by  their  ignorance  of  the  classic  tongues,  which  were 
scarcely  remedied  by  careless  and  incorrect  translations.  So 
that,  without  disputing  the  utility  of  the  Latin  language, 
during  the  middle  ages,  it  may  be  well  affirmed  that  the 
wider  spread  of  the  French  language  powerfully  contributed 
to  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  in  Holland.  For  the  first  time, 
instruction  was  brought  down  to  the  lower  classes  of  society, 
previously  condemned  to  a  fatal  deprivation  of  all  intel- 
lectual culture.  From  the  closet  of  the  rich  man  science  de- 
scended into  the  huts  of  the  poor,  into  the  workshop  of  the 
artificer.  It  was  no  longer  in  Latin,  as  Grotius  did  of  old, 
but  in  French,  that  Basnage  wrote  his  "  Annals  of  the  Uni- 
ted Provinces,"  and  the  study  of  national  history  was  thus 
rendered  easy  to  the  lowest  citizen.  It  was  in  the  same  lan- 
guage that  he  compiled  his  "  History  of  the  Jews  in  Modern 
Times,"  and  that  he  tried  to  explain  the  dark  mysteries  of 
the  Cabala.  When  Saurin  published  his  "  Discourses  on 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,"  he  did  not  adopt  the  special 
language  of  theology,  as  Yoetius  and  Cocceius  had  formerly 
done ;  and  thus  the  truths  contained  in  Holy  Writ  were 
brought  within  the  reach  of  every  one.  The  popular  writings 
of  Bayle  caused  philosophy  to  be  tasted  even  by  the  most 
unlettered  readers.  The  work  of  instruction  thus  rose  grad- 
ually in  all  the  provinces  of  the  republic,  and  civilization, 
which  had,  as  it  were,  lain  dead  under  the  empire  of  a  dead 
language,  gained  a  new  and  magnificent  impulse. 


86  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

Nevertheless,  tliis  powerful  instrument  of  progress  failed 
not  to  degenerate  in  the  hands  of  the  refugees.  Their 
sojourn  in  the  United  Provinces  had  gradually  altered  the 
points  of  the  language  which  they  had  propagated,  and  given 
birth  to  that  style,  which  was  known  as  refugee  French. 

Yoltaire  attributes  the  comparative  inferiority  of  the  lan- 
guage of  the  emigrants  to  their  tendency  to  study  the  incor- 
rect phraseology  of  the  Genevese  reformers,  who,  according 
to  him,  had  themselves  adopted  the  dialect  of  the  Italian* 
Swiss.  But  it  is  clear  enough  to  us,  that  the  Protestant 
authors  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  wrote  as 
pure  and  polished  a  dialect  as  the  Komish  writers,  and  that 
the  prose  of  France  received  from  Calvin,  Theodore  de 
Beza,  and  their  successors,  a  vigor  and  purity  of  expression 
which  hastened  the  epoch  of  Balzac  and  Pascal.  Yoltaire  is 
deceived  the  less  in  imputing  the  fault  to  that  circumstance, 
since  most  of  the  exiled  preachers  of  1685,  being  natives  of 
Languedoc  and  Dauphiny,  had  studied  in  the  town  of  Saumur. 
Hence  they  naturally  preserved,  in  a  foreign  country,  the  par- 
ticular modes  of  speech,  and  even  of  accentuation,  used  in  the 
countries  wherein  they  were  brought  up,  or  in  the  small 
towns  and  retired  cantons  of  the  provinces  in  which  they  had 
lived.  Perhaps  abo  the  psalms  of  Clement  Marot,  and  the 
Bible  used  in  the  reformed  churches  of  the  kingdom,  read 
from  father  to  son  in  the  exiled  families,  firmly  fixed  in 
their  minds  the  spirit  of  the  antique  French  tongue.  The 
real  causes  of  this  deterioration  were  the  daily  relations 
arising  between  the  exiled  families  and  the  widely  difiierent 
people  in  the  midst  of  whom  they  were  living,  and  the  im- 
possibility of  improving  a  language  itself  expatriated,  which 
had  become  stationary,  and,  as  it  were,  petrified,  since 
it  partook  no  longer  of  the  modifications  introduced  into  it 
by  the  great  prose  writers  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Refugee 
French  resembled  a  branch  torn  from  the  parent  stem  and 
*  Yoltaire.     The  Age  of  Louis  XIY.     Article  Saurin. 


DEGENERATE    FRENCH.  87 

arrested  in  its  growth,  which  retains  for  a  time  a  factitious  life, 
but  dries  up  by  degrees  and  withers  away  on  a  stock  which 
receives  no  aliment. 

This  deterioration  was  exceedingly  rapid.  Already, 
in  1691,  Racine  wrote  to  his  son,  who  had  recently  made 
a  voyage  into  Holland,  and  whose  modes  -of  expression  had 
caught  some  odor  from  a  sojourn  of  several  years  at  the 
Hague  ;  "  My  dear  son,  you  give  me  much  pleasure' in  send- 
ing me  the  news ;  but  beware  of  taking  it  from  the  Dutch 
Grazettes ;  for  besides  that  we  have  them  as  well  as  you,  you 
might  acquire  from  them  certain  terms,  which  are  nothing 
worth,  such  as  that  of  '  recruter^^  which  you  use,  instead  of 
saying  -faire  des  recrues?  "  * 

In  1698,  he  renewed  his  critical  observations:  "Your 
account  of  the  voyage  you  have  made  to  Amsterdam  gave  me 
great  pleasure.  I  could  not  help  reading  it  to  Messieurs  de 
.Valincourt  and  Despreaux.  I  took  care,  however,  in  read- 
ing it  to  them  to  omit  the  strange  word  "  tentatif^''  which  you 
must  have  learned  from  some  Dutchman,  and  which  would 
greatly  have  astonished  them."t  In  another  letter,  he  said 
to  him,  "  You  desire  that  I  should  make  a  little  criticism  on 
one  point  of  your  letter.  '  11  en  a  agi  avec  politesse' — he 
acted  with  politeness — you  should  have  written,  '  11  en  a 
use?  We  do  not  say  '  11  a  bien  agi,''  and  it  is  a  false  form 
of  speech.":]: 

The  fault  which  Racine  found  with  his  son,  France  had  rea- 
son to  find  with  the  works  of  the  refugees.  From  the  first  years 
succeeding  the  emigration,  the  works  which  they  published  in 
Holland,  and,  in  particular,  "  the  politico  Historical  Mercury," 
bear  the  impress  of  this  unfortunate  influence  on  the  French 
language.  Not  only  antiquated  modes  of  diction,  but  also 
awkward  and  sometimes  ungrammatical  constructions  are  to 

*  Letters  of  Eaciue  to  his  Son.  Edition  of  the  Works  of  Racine, 
by  Petitot,  vol.  v.  p.  203.     Paris,  1829. 

f  Ibidem,  vol.  v.  p.  24Y.        %  Ibidem,  vol.  v.  p.  273. 


88  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

be  found  in  them,  far  more  conformable  to  the  genius  of  the 
Dutch,  than  of  the  French  language.  Voltaire  protested 
against  this  appearance  of  corruption  in  all  the  preachers  ; 
and  even  in  the  fine  sermons  of  Saurin,  the  value  of  which  he 
scarce  appreciates.  The  single  author,  to  whom  he  does  not 
impute  similar  defects  of  language,  is  Bayle,  who  ofiends,  he 
says,  "  only  by  a  familiarity  which  approaches  sometimes  to 
vulgarity."*  JSIevertheless,  be  admits  that,  at  this  early 
period  of  ''  the  French  Refuge,"  the  French  tongue  in  Hol- 
land was  not  corrupted  to  that  degree  as  in  his  time. 
Moreover,  Saurin  himself  admits  this  superiority.  "It  is 
difficult,"  says  he,  "  for  those,  who  have  sacrificed  their 
country  to  their  religion,  to  speak  their  language,  with 
absolute  purity."  As  the  refugees  began  gradually  to  trans- 
form themselves  into  Hollanders,  and  accustomed  themselves 
to  converse  in  the  idioms  of  their  new  country,  this  degene- 
racy became  more  striking.  The  phrases  which  they  thus 
borrowed  from  the  Dutch,  and  the  antiquated  terms  which 
they  afiected,  continued  more  and  more  to  give  their  style 
that  peculiar  modification,  which  constituted  its  distinctive 
character  in  the  eighteenth  century.  There  were  but  few 
families,  which  preserved  unmixed  the  true  French  which 
had  descended  to  them  from  their  ancestors ;  whether  it  was 
that  these  lived  more  secluded  lives  in  Holland,  or  that  they 
continually  renewed  their  memory  of  the  noble  tongue  which 
was  falling  into  corruption  every  where  around  them,  by 
assiduous  study,  or  by  constant  visits  to  France.  The  cele- 
brated Leyden  Gazette,  founded  by  Stephen  Luzac,  was 
published  in  a  style  as  elegant  and  correct  as  the  best 
periodicals  which  appeared  in  France  at  that  epoch. 

All  the  branches  of  human  learning  were  advanced  in 
Holland  by  the  refugees.  That  country  offered  a  soil  won- 
derfully promising  for  the  propagation  of  new  ideas.  There 
no  fetters  on  genius,  no  censorship,  no  persecution  existed. 

*  Age  of  Louis  XIV.     Article  Saurin. 


BARBEYRAC.  89 

The  boldest  democratic  theories,  the  most  daring  philosophic 
systems,  were  freely  published.  The  refugees  advanced  this 
spirit  of  investigation,  directing  it,  now  to  the  study  of  law, 
now  to  the  exact  sciences,  now  to  philosophy,  history,  or 
literary  and  political  criticism 

The  prohibition  to  practise  law  in  France,  led  many  dis- 
tinguished jurisconsults  to  Holland.  Some,  like  D'Hotman, 
were  imbued  with  republican  ideas,  entirely  incompatible 
with  the  absolute  monarchy  of  Louis  XIV.  Most  of  them, 
hostile  to  written  law,  and  believing  in  the  possibility  of  a 
legislative  scheme  founded  on  reason  and  equity,  had  applied 
themselves  to  the  study  of  natural  law.  Among  those  juris- 
consults who,  by  the  tendency  of  their  ideas,  seemed  to  be- 
long to  the  great  generation  of  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  most  distinguished  was  Barbeyrac. 

Born  at  Beziers,  in  1674,  he  was  compelled  by  the  perse- 
cution to  retire  to  Lausanne.  Thence  he  was  called  to  Grron- 
ingen,  where  he  occupied,  for  a  long  time,  with  high  distinc- 
tion, the  chairs  of  history  and  law.  There,  he  rendered  pop- 
ular the  science  of  justice,  by  his  writings  no  less  than  by  his 
lectures.  He  translated,  into  French,  Puffendorf  and  G-ro- 
tius,  with  commentaries  on  their  works.  In  his  preface  to 
Puffendorf,  which  received  praise  from  Voltaire,  he  feared 
not  to  place  himself  out  of  the  range  of  Christianity,  prefer- 
ring the  morality  of  modern  philosophy  to  that  of  the  fathers 
of  the  church.  Voltaire  awards  equal  praise  to  other  works 
of  this  free-thinker.  "  It  seems,"  says  he,  "  that  these 
'  treatises  on  the  rights  of  nations,  on  war  and  on  peace,' 
which  have  never  contributed  to  any  treaty  of  peace,  to  any 
declaration  of  war,  and  which  have  never  secured  the  rights 
of  any  individual,  may  be  some  consolation  to  nations  for  the 
injuries  done  them  by  policy  or  force.  They  give,  at  least, 
an  idea  of  justice,  like  those  portraits  of  great  men  whom  we 
have  no  opportunity  of  seeing."  *     Elias  Luzac  shared  the 

*  Age  of  Louis  XIV.     Article  Barbeyrac. 


90  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

principles  of  Barbeyrac.  His  translation  of  Wolff's  work  on 
"  Natural  Law"  was  an  important  service  rendered  to  a 
science,  which  was,  as  yet,  only  at  its  commencement.  His 
ingenious  commentaries  on  Montesquieu's  "  Spirit  of  Laws," 
and  his  own  writings  on  the  liberty  of  the  press,  equally  at- 
test a  liberal  mind,  and  one  friendly  to  progress. 

Barbeyrac,  Luzac,  and  the  other  legal  refugees  to  Hol- 
land, exercised,  there,  a  most  salutary  influence  on  civil  and 
criminal  law.  They  propagated  the  writings  of  Pothier,  and 
of  D'Aguesseau,  which  were  so  highly  appreciated  in  France 
by  all  eminent  thinkers,  and  the  maxims  of  which,  being  too 
advanced  for  their  own  age,  did  not  pass  into  the  form  of 
written  law,  until  within  the  period  of  this  later  century. 
The  Hollanders  owed  to  these  men,  who  formed  a  school, 
the  application  of  a  more  philosophical  method  to  the  civil 
law  of  the  Romans,  juridical  proceedings  more  rational 
and  more  in  conformity  to  the  genius  of  the  great  legists  of 
Roman  antiquity,  and  an  almost  absolute  abandonment  of 
the  superannuated  forms  of  German  jurisprudence,  which 
had  been  preserved  up  to  this  date.  They  equally  modi- 
fied criminal  jurisprudence,  giving  it  a  far  more  liberal 
interpretation.  While  justice  was  still  dishonored,  even  in 
France,  by  the  frequent  application  of  torture,  it  was  little 
used  in  Holland,  in  the  course  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
save  in  exceptional  cases  ;  and  then  only  as  an  additional 
mode  of  information,  by  means  of  which  to  obtain  definitive 
proofs  of  guilt,  already  partially  established  by  direct  evi- 
dence. The  judges  never  authorized  its  use  except  in  capital 
cases,  where  the  tribunal,  fettered  by  an  antiquated  but  re- 
spected law,  could  only  pronounce  judgment  after  having  ex- 
torted from  the  accused  an  unconditional  confession.*     The 

*  It  is  remarkable  that  the  exceptional  case,  for  which  Mr.  Weiss 
apologizes,  if  he  do  not  justify  the  principle,  is  the  very  worst  imagin- 
able. Innocent  persons  naturally  would,  and  often  did  confess,  in 
order  to  obtain  a  simple  death,  rather  than  one  by  torture.— Traws- 
•itor. 


JACQUES    BERNARD.  91 

principles  of  law  rendered  popular  by  the  refugees,  in  like 
manner,  moderated  the  cruelty  of  punishments.  The  death 
by  breaking  on  the  wheel  had  disappeared  in  Holland  above 
I  j  forty  years  before  it  was  abolished  in  France ;  while  in  the 
•  province  of  Groningen,  where  French  jurisconsults  did  not 
possess  so  marked  an  influence,  it  was  still  inflicted  on  crim- 
inals condemned  to  death,  within  sixty  3'ears.  It  is  princi- 
pally to  the  admission  of  the  refugees  into  the  regencies  of 
towns,  that  the  republic  owes  this  improvement.  These  re- 
gencies were  habitually  composed  of  a  grand  bailiff",  or  grand 
officer,  a  burgomaster,  and  echevins  charged  with  the  execu- 
tion of  justice.  These  persons  owed  their  offices  to  election, 
and  in  general,  the  people  chose  only  men  of  the  highest 
distinction.  Such,  however,  was  the  extraordinary  favor 
which  attached  to  the  refugees,  that,  so  early  as  the  end  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  the  Le  Plas,  the  Chatelaines,  the 
Cans,  were  admitted  to  the  regency  of  Leyden,  and  that 
Daniel  de  Dieu  was  bailiff  of  Amsterdam.  These  elevated 
positions  early  permitted  them  to  exercise  on  the  decisions 
of  justice,  and  even  indirectly  on  legislation  itself,  a  salutary 
influence,  which  they  always  exerted  on  the  side  of  humanity. 
Natural  history,  medicine,  physical  and  exact  science,  so 
generally  cultivated  in  France  since  the  days  of  Pascal  and 
Descartes,  partly  owed  to  the  refugees  the  impulse  which 
they  received  in  Holland.  A  famous  mathematician,  Jacques 
Bernard,  born  at  Lyons,  in  Dauphiny,  in  1658,  who  retired 
first  to  Geneva,  then  to  Lausanne,  came  to  seek  a  final  asy- 
lum in  the  United  Provinces,  wh^re  he  was  received  by  Jean 
Leclerc,  the  publicist,  his  relation,  and  companion  in  study. 
Appointed,  in  the  first  instance,  preacher  at  Leyden,  he  was 
speedily  called  by  the  university  of  that  town  to  the  chair  of 
philosophy  and  mathematics,  which  he  occupied  with  great 
distinction  until  his  death,  in  1718.  The  exact  sciences  had 
really  advanced  in  Holland,  through  the  instructions  of  that 


92  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

eminent  man,  wliose  suj)erior  merits  and  powerful  influence 
are  fully  recognized  by  the  historian  of  the  University  of 
Leyden.* 

Pierre  Lyonnet,  no  less  celebrated  as  a  naturalist  than  as 
an  anatomist  and  engraver,  carried  the  palm  over  Jacques 
Bernard,  by  the  extent  and  precision  of  his  acquirements. 
Born  at  Maestricht  in  1707,  of  a  family  originally  from 
Lorraine,  which  had  quitted  that  country  at  the  epoch  of  the 
religious  persecutions,  he  was  first  destined  by  his  father, 
the  minister  of  the  French  church  at  Heusden,  to  pastoral 
duties.  A  singular  aptitude  in  acquiring  languages,  render- 
ed him  familiar,  in  a  very  few  years,  with  Latin,  Greek, 
Hebrew,  French,  Italian,  Spanish,  German,  and  English. 
At  the  same  time,  he  applied  himself  to  the  exact  sciences, 
to  drawing  and  to  sculpture,  with  extraordinary  success. 
Having  arrived  at  the  age  necessary  for  choosing  a  profes- 
sion, he  preferred  the  study  of  law  to  that  of  theology,  and 
after  having  taken  his  degrees  at  Utrecht,  he  obtained  from 
the  States  General  the  employment  of  deciphering  secretary, 
and  sworn  translator.  From  that  time  forth,  he  occupied 
the  leisure  which  remained  to  him  from  his  other  occupa- 
tions, in  drawing  various  natural  objects,  but  insects  more 
especially.  He  even  formed  a  collection  of  colored  draw- 
ings, which  represent  all  those  to  be  found  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  Hague.  His  relations  with  Boerhaave,  Leeu-' 
wenhoek,  and  Swammerdam,  celebrated  naturalists  of  that 
day,  and  the  close  friendship  which  bound  him  to  Trembley, 
the  Genevese,  who  resided  at  the  Hague,  and  had  recently 
published  his  discoveries  concerning  Polypuses,  determined 
him  to  devote  himself  to  that  especial  branch  of  study. 
His  first  publication,  which  was  composed  of  researches  into 
entomology,  with  which  he  enriched  his  French  translation 
of  the  work  of  Lesser,  appeared  to  Reaumur  worthy  of  be- 

*  Siejenbeek.     Hiatoiy  of  the  Universit}'  of  Leyden,  vol.  ii.  pp. 
171,  172.     In  Dutch.     Quoted  from Koenen,  p.  272. 


PIERRE   LYONNET.  93 

ing  reproduced  at  Paris.  Having  become  the  assistant  of 
Trembley,  he  engraved  the  last  eight  plates  of  the  memoir 
which  was  published  by  the  latter,  in  \  77 i,  on  Fresh  Water 
Polypuses.  Cuvier  speaks  of  these  plates,  as  "  specimens  of 
engraving,  remarkable  for  their  delicacy  and  exactitude."  * 
Ere  long,  applying  his  talent,  of  which  he  had  just  made 
trial,  to  the  perpetuation  of  his  own  discoveries,  he  gave  the 
public  his  fine  work  on  the  Anatomy  of  the  Caterpillar,  a 
patient  and  ingenious  work  of  observation,  of  which  as  yet 
natural  history  had  no  example. f  "  The  book  in  which  he 
describes  it,"  says  Cuvier,  "  the  engravings  in  which  he  re- 
presents it,  were  placed,  at  the  very  moment  of  their  appear- 
ance, among  the  most  astonishing  masterpieces  of  human 
industry.  The  author  in  them  explains  all  the  parts  of  that 
most  minute  animal  with  more  detail  and  exactitude,  it  might 
be  said,  than  those  of  man  had  been  explained  to  us.  The 
number  of  its  muscles  alone,  all  described  and  represented, 
is  4,041  ;  that  of  the  branches  of  the  nerveS,  and  ramifica- 
tions of  the  trachea,  is  yet  more  considerable.  All  the  vis- 
cera are  there  depicted,  with  all  their  details ;  and  all  this 
is  represented  by  artifices  of  engraving  so  fine,  by  cuttings 
so  clear  and  delicate,  and  so  perfectly  adapted  to  the  quality 
of  the  tissues  sought  to  be  represented,  that  the  eye  seizes 
the  whole  as  readily  as  though  it  were  examining  the  object 
itself  by  means  of  a  microscope."  | 

To  the  names  of  Bernard,  and  Lyonnet,  one  may  add 
those  of  the  celebrated  physician  Desaguiliers,  who  tra- 
velled some  time  in  Holland,  and  popularized  the  great 
discoveries  of  Newton,  by  giving  public  lectures  at 
Rotterdam  and  the  Hague,  which  were  immensely  suc- 
cessful ;    those  of  William  Lore,  a  mathematician  of  the 

*  Article  of  Cuvier  on  Lyonnet,  in  his  Universal  Biography,  vol. 

XXV. 

f  Anatomical  Treatise  on  the  Caterpillar,  which  feeds  on  the  wil- 
low.    The  Hague  and  Amsterdam.     1706. 
X  Article  quoted  from  Cuvier,  above. 


94  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

first  order,  who  enriched  the  collection  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  at  Paris  by  his  works;  of  Pierre  Latane,  professor 
of  medicine,  and  physician  in  chief  at  the  Court  of  Orange ; 
to  conclude,  one  of  the  finest  geniuses  of  modern  times, 
Huygens,  the  Dutchman,  whom  foreign  intolerance  re- 
stored to  his  native  land.  The  last  named,  invited  to 
Paris  by  Colbert,  who,  at  that  time,  was  creating  the  Acade- 
my of  Sciences,  published  there  his  "  Oscillating  Watch," 
which  he  dedicated  to  Louis  XIV. — a  present  worthy  of  the 
monarch  ;  for  if  Newton's  Principia  be  excepted,  that  work  is, 
perhaps,  the  finest  scientific  production  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  But,  in  1681,  the  progress  of  the  persecutions  de- 
termined him  to  leave  France,  to  such  a  degree  that  no  pro- 
mises could  shake  his  resolution.*  The  great  geometrician 
brought  home  to  his  native  land  his  magnificent  discovery 
of  the  application  of  the  pendulum  to  his  watches,  his  analy- 
sis of  the  undulations  of  light,  and  his  great  improvements  in 
the  barometer  and  the  pneumatic  machine. 

Letters,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  were  yet  more 
largely  indebted  to  the  refugees,  than  jurisprudence,  or  the 
exact  sciences. 

At  the  head  of  the  literary  emigration,  stands  a  skeptical 
and  railing  spirit,  in  which  doubt  and  paradox  seem  to  be  in- 
carnate, a  spirit  foreign  to  the  passionate  convictions  of  the 
martyrs  of  Calvinism,  and  akin  rather  to  the  school  of  Mon- 
taigne and  Voltaire.  Pierre  Bayle  was  born  in  1647.  He 
was  the  son  of  a  Protestant  minister  of  the  district  of  Foix. 
From  his  childhood  he  displayed  a  wonderful  eagerness  to 
learn,  and  to  reason  on  what  he  learned.  Erudition  and 
dialectics  thus  became,  at  a  very  early  age,  the  two  puissant 
motive  forces  of  his  versatile  intellect,  which  united  to  the 
vivacity  and  suppleness  of  the  southern  mind  that  instinct 
for  investigation,  which  received  so  strong  an  impulse  from 

*  Dissertation  of  M.  Coquerel,  in  his  History  of  the  Churches  of 
the  Desert,  vol.  i.  p.  84,  note. 


PIERRE    BAYLE.  95 

the  reform.     At  twenty-two,  struck  by  the  arguments  of  the 
Papists  on  the  traditions,  and  the  authority  of  the  Church,  he 
abjured   the  Protestant  religion  at  Toulouse,  in  1669,  desir- 
ing, as  he  said,  to  be  reunited  to  the  body  of  the  tree,  of 
which  the  reformed  communions  are  the  dissevered  branches. 
The  Jesuits  congratulated  themselves  aloud  on  this  conver- 
sion of  the  son  of  a  minister,  on  which  they  founded  the 
most  brilliant   expectations.     But  it  was  not   long,  before- 
their  convert  escaped  them.     Shocked    at    the  worship    of 
saints  and  images,  and  judging  the  doctrine  of  transubstan 
tiation  incompatible  with  the  principles  of  Descartes,  he  was 
reconverted  to  Protestantism,  and  fled  to  Geneva,  to  avoid 
the    severe    penalties,  which   the    law   pronounced    against 
relapsed  converts.     On  his  return  to  France,  under  a  ficti- 
tious name,  he  was  placed  by  Basnage,  with  a  merchant  of 
Rouen ;  then,  on   the  recommendation    of  Ruvigny,  he  was 
admitted  as  tutor  in  the  family  of  Beringhen  ;  again,  after  the 
death   of  the  learned  Pithois,  he  was   nominated  professor 
of   Philosophy  in   the  University  of  Sedan,  where   he   had 
Jurieu,  at  that  time  his  friend,  but  afterward  his  irreconcil- 
able adversary,  for  his   colleague.     In  1681,  after  the  total 
overthrow  of  Protestantism,  he  was  invited  with  the  latter 
into  Holland,  and  continued  his  lessons  in  the  noble  school, 
which  Rotterdam  had  founded,  to  serve  them  as  a  retreat. 
Before  leaving  France,  Bayle  had   already  entered  on   his 
true  career,  by  publishing  an  original  work,  his  "  Letter  on 
Comets."     The  form,  which  he  gave  to  his  attacks  on  the 
superstitious  terror  inspired  by  the  apparition  of  the  comet 
of  1680,  led  him  to  support  such  a  thesis  as  naturally  led 
to  a  popular  excitement  of  opinions.      After  a  comparison 
between  Atheists,  Idolaters,  and  Christians,  he  arrived   at 
the  conclusion,  that  religious  creeds  have  but  little  influence 
on  the  minds  of  the.  generality  of  men,  who  govern  them- 
selves chiefly  according  to  their  temper,  and  the  impulses 
i>f  the  moment — that  an  Atheist  might  be  a  good  man and 


96  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

that  a  society  of  Atheists  might  exist,  and  be  preferable  to 
a  society  of  Idolaters.  Strange  assertions,  and  unworthy 
even  of  repetition ;  although  one  may  distinguish  through 
them  a  serious  idea,  perhaps  worthy  of  examination,  that, 
namely,  of  an  innate  morality  of  the  human  conscience, 
apart  from  all  positive  religion.  This  treatise,  however, 
did  not  really  express  the  true  thoughts  of  Bayle.  It  was 
the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  which  led  him  to 
disclose  the  depths  of  his  doctrine.  To  him  the  public 
misery  was  coincident  with  a  frightful  private  misfortune. 
His  brother,  who  had  embraced  the  profession  of  a  pastor, 
died  of  languor  and  misery  in  the  hideous  dungeons  of 
the  Chateau  Trompette.  Some  Protestant  converts  had  pub- 
lished a  panegyric  of  Louis  XIV.,  under  this  title — "  Romish 
France,  under  the  reign  of  Louis  the  Great."  Thereat  out- 
burst the  indignation  of  Bayle,  in  three  letters,  in  which  he 
related  the  horrors  of  the  persecution,  and  depicted  in 
striking,  but  lugubrious  terms,  what  was,  in  truth,  "  France, 
wholly  Romish,  in  the  reign  of  Louis  the  Great."  * 

Many  vehement  protestations  were  sent  out  at  that  mo- 
ment from  Protestant  pens ;  but  the  work  of  Bayle  hit,  the 
most  accurately,  the  character,  and  the  aim  of  Louis  XIYth's 
edict.  In  spite  of  his  passions,  he  entertained  superior 
ideas  both  in  politics  and  morals.  He  was,  above  all, 
happily  inspired,  when,  after  reproaching  all  Romish  France 
with  its  active  or  secret  complicity,  its  contempt  for  the 
opinions  of  other  nations,  and  lastly,  its  audacity  in  quali- 
fying acts  of  prudence  and  moderation,  as  violence  and 
devastation,  he  maintained  that,  far  from  gaining  the  victory 
for  Romanism,  they  had  only  paved  the  way  for  that  of 
Deism. 

"  Deceive  not  yourselves,"  he  continued,  addressing  the 

persecutors,  "  your  triumphs  are  those  of  Deism,  not  of  the 

true  faith.     Would  that  you  could  hear  the  opinion  of  those, 

who   have  no  other  religion  than   that  of  natural  equity  ! 

*  Amsterdam,  1685. 


ROMISH    FRANCE,  97 

They  regard  your  conduct  as  an  argument  beyond  refu- 
tation ;  and  when  they  look  farther,  and  consider  the 
ravages  and  sanguinary  violences,  committed  during  six  or 
seven  hundred  years  by  your  Romish  religion,  throughout 
all  the  world,  they  cannot  avoid  admitting  that  God  is  essen- 
tially too  good  to  be  the  author  of  any  thing  so  evil  as  posi- 
tive religions  ;  that  he  has  revealed  to  man  only  natural 
right;  but  that  spirits,  enemies  of  our  rest,  have  come  by 
night  to  sow  tares  in  the  field  of  our  natural  religion,  by  the 
establishment  of  particular  churches,  which  they  well  knew 
would  be  but  the  perpetual  sowing  of  wars,  massacres,  ini- 
quities. These  blasphemies  horror-strike  the  conscience  ; 
but  your  church  must  answer  for  them  to  God,  since  it  is  its 
spirit,  its  maxims,  and  its  conduct,  which  extort  them  from 
the  minds  of  mankind."     In  conclusion,  he  adds — 

"  Although,  humanly  speaking,  you  deserve  not  to  be 
pitied,  I  cannot  avoid  pitying  you,  whom  I  see  going  so  furi- 
ously astray  from  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  But  I  pity  yet 
more  true  Christianity,  which  you  have  rendered  so  corrupt, 
to  use  the  words  of  the  Gospel,  before  all  other  religions. 
Nothing  is  more  true,  than  that  the  very  name  of  Christian- 
ity is  hateful  to  infidels,  since  you  have  let  them  know  what 
you  are  worth.  For  many  centuries,  you  have  been  the  most 
conspicuous  part  of  Christianity,  and  it  is  by  you  that  men 
judge  the  whole.  And  how  can  they  judge  of  Christianity, 
reckoning  by  your  conduct  ?  Must  not  they  judge  it  as  a 
religion  loving  blood  and  carnage,  tormenting  both  body  and 
soul — a  religion  which,  to  establish  its  tyranny  over  con- 
sciences, and  to  manufacture  knaves  and  hypocrites,  in  case 
of  its  lacking  sophistries  to  persuade  what  it  would,  puts 
in  force  any  means — falsehoods,  perjuries,  dragoons,  man- 
sworn  judges,  tricksters,  dishonest  pleaders,  false  witnesses, 
executioners,  inquisitions  ;  and  all  this  too — either  affecting 
that  it  is  permissible  and  lawful,  because  it  is  necessary  to 
the    propagation   of  the    faith,    or    really   believing   it   to 

VOL.  II. — 5 


98  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

•be  SO — two   conditions   equally  dishonorable  to  tlie   name 
of  Christian." 

After  having  branded  the  executioners,  in  language  which 
might  satisfy  the  keenest  resentments,  and  which  inspired 
some  regrets  even  to  the  Protestants,  who  were  but  too  well 
avenged  by  his  powerful  but  indiscreet  pen,  Bayle  took  a 
step  yet  in  advance,  and  preached  absolute  toleration.  His 
*'  Philosophic  Commentary  on  these  words  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  '  Compel  them  to  enter  in,'  "  *  is  a  victorious  refutation 
of  all  the  theologians,  who  had  recommended  the  principle 
of  compulsion  as  a  lawful  method  of  proselytism.  The  ar- 
guments which  he  employs  are  of  two  kinds.  He  repels  in- 
tolerance in  a  religious  point  of  view,  by  proving  that  the 
literal  sense  of  the  passage,  in  question,  is  contrary  to  the 
soundest  notions  of  reason,  no  less  than  to  to  the  general 
spirit  of  the  Gospel, ''for  nothing,"  says  he,  with  infinite 
reason,  ''can  be  more  entirely  opposed,  to  that  spirit,  than 
dungeons,  exile,  pillage,  the  galleys,  the  insolence  of  soldiers, 
executions,  and  tortures.  "J  He  then  combats  it,  on  the 
ground  of  policy,  by  delineating  the  picture  of  an  ideal  so- 
ciety, in  which  power,  instead  of  "  abandoning  the  secular 
arm  to  the  fierce  and  tumultuous  desires  of  a  populace  of 
monks  and  priests,"!  should  extend  an  equal  protection  to 
all  creeds.  This  great  principle  of  religious  toleration, 
established  by  the  revolution  of  1789,  and  of  which  M. 
Guizot  has  given  the  true  formula,  on  the  day  in  which 
he  uttered  from  the  rostrum  the  just  and  truthful  phrase, 
"  The  state  is  of  no  religion,"  was  thus  proclaimed  aloud,  in 
Holland,  by  a  French  refugee.  But  Bayle  yet  more  clearly 
displays  his  inmost  thoughts,  in  a  third  kind  of  argument, 
less  developed,  but  far  more  radical,  to  wit — that  the  ques- 
tions debated  by  theologians  are  uncertain,  and  lack  demon- 
stration, that  all  systems  are  equally  obscure,  and  that,  in 

*  Amsterdam,  1688.  f  First  part,  chap.  iii. 

'^  Second  part,  chap.  vi. 


JURIEU   AGAINST    BAYLE.  99 

consequence,  every  one  sliould  "be  content  to  pray  for  those, 
whom  he  cannot  convince,  and  should  not  seek  to  oppress  them. 
If  Bayle  really  desired  to  establish  universal  peace,  and 
to  found  toleration  on  the  demonstration  of  the  vanity  of  all 
creeds,  and  the  uncertainty  of  all  dogmas,  his  design,  wrapped 
in  ambiguities,  was  not  approved  during  his  life,  by  the  most 
eminent  companions  of  his  exile.     They  naturally  sought, 
on  the  contrary,  the  most  vigorous  efforts  of  the  intellect  to 
sustain  the  doctrines  for  which  they  had  suffered  so  much, 
and  which  had  found,  in  one  of  the  men,  who  had  a  special 
mission  to  defend  them,  only  a  pitiless  and  sneering  railer. 
Old  Calvinism,  no  less  exclusive  than  the  Romish  religion, 
was  not  deceived.     It  felt  itself  assailed,  by  the  same  blow 
just  dealt  against  Papistry.     Saurin  charged  himself  with 
vengeance.     Placing  all  the  weight  of  his  convictions,  all  the 
authority  of  his  name  in  the  opposite  scale  to  that  assumed 
by  Bayle,  he  opposed  his  rigid  dogmatism  to  the  exaggerated 
rationalism   of  the  philosopher  of  Rotterdam ;   constituted 
himself  in  some  sort  its  personal  champion ;  and  set  himself  to 
fortify  that  Christian  faith,  which  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  Diderot, 
and  all  the  school  of  encyclopedists  had  gone  so  far  to  attack.* 
This  was  to  render  signal   service  to  the  cause  of  orthodox 
Protestantism,  to  which  he  furnished  arms  against  its  future 
adversaries.      After  Saurin's  example,   Jurieu  refuted  the 
skepticism  of  Bayle,  and  opened,  with  his  usual  violence, 
against  the  impiety  of  his  former  friend.     Loudly  accused 
himself,  by  Bossuet,  of  favoring  the  Socinians,  he  took  this 
occasion  to  deny  an  imputation  so  dangerous  to  his  credit. 
Treating  the   commentary  as  the  perfidious  manifesto  of  a 
sect  of  false  reformers,  which  aimed  at  establishing  indiffer- 
ence to  all  religion,  under  the  mask  of  universal  toleration, 
he  maintained  that  Bayle's  doctrine  led  directly  to  Deism  ; 
that  the  rights,  which  he   claimed  for  individual  conscience, 
were  excessive ;  and  that  not  only  were  princes  called  to  re- 

*  For  this  controversy,  see  "  the  History  of  the  Churches  of  the 
Desert."  by  Charles  Coquerel,  vol.  i.  pp.  241,  242. 


100  FE^ENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

gard  religious  matters,  but  that  they  had  a  special  duty,  to 
maintain  the  purity  of  faith,  by  using  their  authority  to 
rejoress  dissenting  sects. 

Irritated  by  the  violence  of  these  attacks,  Bayle  gave 
way  to  bitter  reproaches.  The  "  Advice  to  Refugees  on  their 
early  return  to  France,"  which  appeared  in  1690,  and  which 
his  enemies  attributed  to  him,  although  he  never  admitted 
the  authorship,  was  a  cutting  pamphlet,  directed  against  the 
emigrants  in  Holland,  and  especially  against  Jurieu,  who 
had  prophetically  announced  that  the  Protestant  cause 
would  triumph,  in  1689.  The  anonymous  author  ironically 
congratulated  the  exiles  on  the  favorable  dispositions  of 
Louis  XIV.,  and  on  their  speedy  return  to  their  country, 
to  which  numbers  of  Papists  would  welcome  them  with  joy. 
But  he  warned  them  not  to  set  foot  within  that  country,  until 
they  had  first  gone  through  a  little  preamble  of  quarantine, 
in  order  to  cleanse  themselves  of  two  diseases,  the  contagion 
of  which  they  had  taken  abroad,  to  wit :  "  The  spirit  of 
satire,  and  a  certain  republican  spirit,  which  goes  so  far  as 
to  introduce  anarchy  into  the  world,  which  is  the  greatest 
curse  to  civilized  society."  The  second  reply  was  entirely 
aimed  at  the  expression  of  Jurieu,  "  that  kings  werel 
Imade  for  peoples,  not  peoples  for  kings."  The  reply  was 
'  not  long  waited  for,  and  to  the  great  scandal  of  the  refugees 
in  Holland,  a  violent  discussion  arose  between  the  two  pro- 
fessors of  the  illustrious  school.  Bayle  strove  for  three  years, 
but  several  advances  made  by  him  to  Louis  XI Y.,  in  the 
famous  pamphlet,  and  the  violence  of  his  attacks  on  the 
English  revolution,  were  brought  up  against  him.  In  1693, 
the  magistrates  of  Rotterdam,  concealing  their  political  mo- 
tives behind  the  complaints  of  the  French  consistory,  with- 
drew his  pension,  and  forbade  him  farther  to  give  lessons, 
whether  public  or  private.  If,  as  Basnage  gives  it  to  be 
understood,  the  "  Advice  to  Refugees  "  be  truly  his  work,  it 
was,  on  his  part,  a  mere  caprice.     He  was  never  reconciled 


JACQUES    BASNAGE.  101 

to  the  Papists  ;  but  disgusted  for  ever  with  "  the  squabbles 
of  professors,"  he  set  himself  unremittingly  to  work  at  his 
"  Historical  and  Critical  Dictionary,"  that  gigantic  monu- 
ment of  rich  and  varied  erudition,  in  which  all  the  science  of 
the  seventeenth  century  found  place ;  that  absolute  chaos, 
in  which  all  the  truths  and  all  the  errors,  which  have  ap- 
peared among  men,  are  intermingled,  but  which,  in  spite  of 
the  minute  details,  and  the  ease  with  which  the  author 
handles  his  great  wisdom,  leaves  only  uncertainty  and  con- 
fusion in  the  mind.* 

After  philosophy,  history  is  the  style  of  writing,  which 
offered  the  greatest  temptation  to  the  refugee  writers ;  for 
therein  they  could  express  that  spirit  of  resistance  and 
liberty,  which  they  had  been  so  long  compelled  to  suppress  in 
France.  Jacques  Basnage  is  the  most  celebrated  historian, 
of  their  number.  Familiarized,  from  his  youth  upward,  with 
the  best  authors  of  classic  antiquity,  he  was  no  less  versed 
in  profane  texts,  than  in  those  of  Holy  Writ.  Charged  by 
the  States  Greneral  with  the  duties  of  historiographer,  with 
the  special  commission  to  write  the  annals  of  the  republic 
from  the  peace  of  Munster,  he  undertook  the  office,  on  con- 
dition that  all  the  archives  should  be  open  to  him,  and  that 
he  should  have  full  power  to  express  his  opinions  with  per- 
fect freedom.  His  first  volume,  published  in  1719,  contains 
a  remarkable  exposition  of  the  forms  of  government  which, 
ruled  the  Seven  Pr-)vinces,  at  the  period  of  the  treaty  of 
Westphalia ;  a  difficult  subject,  which  had  not  as  yet  been 
treated.  He  closed  it  with  the  peace  of  Breda,  in 
1667.  The  second  contains  the  negotiations  of  the 
triple  alliance,  which  arrested  Louis  XIV.  in  the  midst 
of  his  conquests  ;  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  ;  the  in- 
vasion of  the  French  in  1672  ;  the  revolution  which  over- 
threw the  brothers  De  Witt,  and  re-established  the  Stadt- 

•""  See,  for  the  dispute  between  Bayle  and  Jurieu,  M.  Sajon's 
interesting  chapter  in  vol.  i.,  of  his  "  History  of  French  Literature 
abroad." 


102  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

holderate  to  the  benefit  of  the  House  of  Orange ;  and  the 
European  war  which  followed,  and  which  was,  in  the  end, 
concluded  by  the  treaty  of  Nimeguen.  Basnage  had  brought 
his  work  down  to  1684,  and  collected  materials  to  carry  it  on 
to  the  year  1720,  when  he  was  arrested  by  death.  He  is 
blamed  for  underrating  the  patriotism  of  John  de  Witt,  by 
representing  him  as  too  keen  a  partisan  of  France  against 
Spain,  and  as  the  implacable  enemy  of  England.  Perhaps, 
in  truth,  his  work  has  a  trifling  odor  of  the  revolutionary 
ideas  of  1672,  which  brought  on  the  bloody  catastrophe  of 
the  Hague.  But  the  best  judges,  nevertheless,  recognized 
in  this  historical  monument,  which  he  consecrated  to  his 
adopted  country,  all  the  other  characteristics  of  truth. 
They  especially  praise  the  clearness  of  his  exposition,  the 
depth  of  his  views,  and  the  sagacity,  with  which  he  pursues 
the  march  and  unravels  the  consequence  of  events,  through 
the  complicated  and  tortuous  negotiations  of  diplomacy. 

The  "  History  of  the  Religion  of  the  Reformed  Churches," 
which  appeared  at  Rotterdam,  in  1690,  is  an  essay  intended 
to  refute  the  "  History  of  Changes."  Basnage  endeavors  to 
oppose  the  continuity  of  the  Protestant  faith,  which  he  traces 
back  to  apostolic  times,  to  the  continuity  of  the  Romish  faith, 
the  fluctuations  of  which  he  exposes;  as  regards  the  doctrines 
of  the  authority  and  infallibility  of  the  Holy  See ;  on  the  doc- 
trines of  justification  by  works  or  by  faith;  and  on  the  sacra- 
ments. Less  logical  than  Jurieu,  he  maintains  the  thesis,  in- 
admissible as  it  seems  to  us,  of  a  primitive  Christian  Church, 
founded  solely  on  the  Divine  Word,  successively  altered  in 
the  course  of  centuries  by  human  additions,  and  restored 
by  the  reformers  to  its  original  purity.  He  does  not  see 
that  these  changes  and  fluctuations  of  doctrine,  so  much  con- 
demned by  Bossuet,  on  the  contrary,  constitute  the  very 
essence  of  Protestantism,  the  issue  of  free  examination 
which  can  only  lose  by  attempting  to  deny  the  consequences 
of  this  immortal  conquest  of  the  human  mind. 


ELIAS   BENOIT.  103 

"  The  History  of  the  Jews,"  in  which  the  chapters  on 
the  Caraites,  Massoretes,  and  the  Samaritans  are  most  re- 
marked, is  equally  a  work  of  great  merit  and  immense  erudi- 
tion. It  was  translated  into  almost  all  the  tongues  of 
Europe.  Basnage  was  in  correspondence  not  only  with  the 
princes  and  statesmen  of  both  religions,  but  also  with  the 
most  celebrated  men  of  letters  in  France,  Italy,  Germany, 
and  England.  This  epistolary  correspondence  ran  as  much 
on  literature  as  on  politics.  The  illustrious  exile  found  as 
much  confidence  in  Papists  as  in  Protestants.  This  confi- 
dence was  so  perfect,  that  an  archbishop  of  France,  uncertain 
which  part  he  should  take  on  the  bull  of  TJnigenitus^  did 
not  hesitate  to  address  him,  in  order  to  ask  his  advice. 
Basnage  replied  to  him,  with  perfect  modesty,  that  it  was 
not  for  him  to  pronounce  on  such  a  question ;  that,  if  the 
archbishop  recognized  the  authority  of  the  Pope,  he  was 
bound  to  submit,  and  adhere  to  the  bull ;  that,  in  the  con- 
trary case,  he  might  reject  it,  but  that  he  should  take  heed, 
lest  from  step  to  step  he  might  be  led  farther  than  he  de- 
sired to  go.* 

Beside  Basnage,  stands  a  sacred  historian,  and  also  a 
profane  writer,  Elias  Benoit,  and  Francois  Michel  Janigon. 
The  first,  son  of  the  steward  of  the  hotel  de  la  Tremouille, 
born  at  Paris,  in  1640,  pastor  of  Alenpon  for  twenty  years, 
then  minister  of  the  Walloon  church  at  Delft,  successively 
published  his  "  History  of  the  Reformed  Churches  of 
France,"  destined  to  serve  as  a  supplement  to  that  of  Theo- 
dore Beza.  and  his  ''  History  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,"  which 
he  composed  at  the  request  of  the  Walloon  church  of  Am- 
sterdam. This  latter  work  is  an  act  of  accusation,  full  of 
vehemence,  against  the  Eomish  clergy,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
an  unreserved  apology  for  the  whole  conduct  of  the  French 
"  reformed/'  from  the  reign  of  Henry  TV.  to  the  revocation. 
In  spite  of  his  passionate  resentments,  Benoit  cannot  be  sus- 

*  See  the  article  Basnage,  in  Chaufepie's  Dictionary. 


104  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

pected  of  bad  faith  ;  but  he  may  reasonably  be  charged  with 
want  of  moderation,  and  with  offending  against  good  taste, 
by  his  invariably  bitter,  and  his  continually  aggressive  com- 
plaints. 

Janicon,  nephew  of  a  minister  of  Blois,  who,  since  that 
time,  was  a  j^reacher  at  Utrecht,  at  first  edited  a  French  jour- 
nal at  Amsterdam  ;  but  having  fallen  into  disgrace  with  the 
government,  he  accepted  the  duties  of  ambassador  of  the 
Landgrave  of  Hesse  Cassel  at  the  Hague.  It  is  in  that 
city,  that  he  began  the  great  work  which  he  had  not  the  time 
to  finish,  and  which  appeared  in  1729,  under  this  title,  ''  Pre- 
sent State  of  the  Republic  of  the  United  Provinces."  The 
mainsprings  of  the  Dutch  government  are  described,  therein, 
with  singular  penetration.  "  Attached,"  says  he,  "  by  reli- 
gious principles  to  a  state,  which  has  become  the  asylum  of 
an  innumerable  multitude  of  reformers,  I  had  done  all  that 
depended  on  me  to  learn  the  economy,  which,  in  so  short  a 
time,  raised  this  republic  to  the  degree  of  glory,  in  which  we 
find  it.  I  observed,  therein,  a  great  number  of  republics, 
which,  governed  each  one  by  peculiar  laws,  accommodated  to 
the  genius,  manners,  wants,  and  commerce  of  their  inhabit- 
ants, yet  possess  general  laws,  which,  interconnecting  them, 
complete  a  uniform  whole  out  of  very  distinct  parts."  Jani- 
f  on's  history,  inspired  by  that  of  Basnage,  served  in  its  turn 
as  the  starting  point  for  the  historian  Wagenaar,  one  of  the 
best  Dutch  writers. 

The, last  service,  which  the  refugees  rendered  to  historic 
science  in  that  country,  is  the  zeal  with  which  they  popular- 
ized the  works  of  Rollin,  and  especially  his  "  Treatise  on 
Studies,"  so  judiciously^  appreciated  by  M.  Villemain,  who 
calls  it  a  monument  of  reason  and  taste,  and  one  of  the  best 
written  books  in  our  language  after  books  of  genius.* 

The  refugees  contented  themselves  not  with  publishing 
books,  which  spread  through  Holland  the  study  of  equity,  of 

*  Villemain.     Literature  of  the  eighteenth  century. 


FRENCH   JOURNALISTS.  105 

the  exact  sciences,  of  pliilosophy,  and  history ;  they  provided 
another  source  of  influence  in  the  leaves  of  the  periodicals, 
which  they  rendered  popular,  and  by  which  they  acted  not 
on  the  Seven  Provinces  only,  but  on  the  whole  of  Europe. 

It  is  not  possible  to  ascertain  perfectly  whether  the 
French  journals,  which  were  watched  so  jealously  in  Amster- 
dam, between  the  treaty  of  Nimeguen  and  the  year  of  the 
revocation,  were  edited  by  French  refugees.  But  it  may  be 
affirmed  that  the  complaints  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  and  the 
severities  of  the  government,  commanded  by  state  reasons, 
could  not  be  put  in  force  against  the  authors  of  these  publi- 
cations. By  degrees,  the  growing  indignation,  produced  by 
the  increasing  severity  of  the  treatment  of  the  French  Pro- 
testants, caused  the  journalists  to  forget  the  laws  framed  to 
restrain  their  excesses.  They  again  commenced  their  at- 
tacks on  Louis  XIV.,  no  one  caring,  thenceforth,  to  put  any 
check  on  their  violent  invectives.  The.Grazette  of  Harlaem 
was  filled  with  recitals  of  the  "  dragoonings,"  which  the 
Count  d'Avaux  vainly  endeavored  to  deny.  Nothing  irritated 
the  minds  of  men  more  than  the  following  letter,  in  which 
Jacob  de  Bye,  the  Dutch  consul  at  Nantes,  bu{  a  naturalized 
Frenchman,  for  his  own  misfortune,  relates  the  tortures  he 
had  undergone  : 

"It  is  eight  days  since  I  acquainted  you  with  my  grievous 
affliction.  It  seems  to  me  that  you  will  hear  of  the  rest 
with  grief,  if  any  charity  be  left  to  you.  Six  devils  of  dra- 
goons were  billetted  on  me,  and  then  fifteen  others,  who, 
having  shut  me  up  in  a  room,  compelled  me  to  eat  and  drink 
with  them,  sending  for  all  sorts  of  delicacies  from  the  inns, 
deluging  the  floors  with  the  best  wines,  burning,  in  a  very 
short  time,  above  a  hundred  pounds  of  candles,  and  as  soon 
as  night  came  on,  breaking  to  pieces  and  burning  all  my  fur- 
niture. When  this  was  done,  they  placed  me  in  a  chair, 
saying,  '  Now,  damned  Huguenot  dog,  thou  knowest  that  the 
King  commands  us  to  put  thee  to  all  the  tortures  thy  cursed 

VOL.  II — 5* 


106  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

body  can  endure.  If  thou  wouldst  be  spared,  give  to  each  of 
us  two'louis  d'or.'  I  endeavored  to  appease  them  with  one 
piece  of  money,  but  it  was  in  vain.  At  last,  I  agreed  to 
give  them  one  louis  a  head,  which  I  paid  them  immediately, 
on  their  promising  me  better  treatment.  At  the  end  of  an 
hour,  one  of  the  worst  of  them  rose,  saying,  '  Cursed  Hu- 
guenot, I  prefer  returning  you  your  money,  and  tormenting 
you.  The  King  wills  that  you  be  converted,'  and  threw  the 
money  at  my  head.  Then  they  set  me  in  my  chair  before  a 
great  fire,  took  off  my  shoes  and  stockings,  and  roasted  my 
feet,  letting  candle-grease  drip  upon  them.  Afterward, 
when  the  agony  made  me  tear  myself  from  them,  they  tied 
me  to  the  foot  of  the  bed,  where  these  more  than  fiendish 
men  rushed  at  me  more  than  ten  times,  with  their  heads 
against  my  stomach,  so  that,  when  I  fell,  I  was  again  carried 
to  the  fire,  where  they  stripped  the  skin  from  my  legs.  When 
day  broke,  they  gave  me  a  little  respite,  still  threatening, 
however,  to  throw  me  out  of  the  window.  I  prayed  them  a 
hundred  times  to  kill  me  ;  but  they  replied,  '  We  have  no 
orders  to  kill  thee,  only  to  torment  thee  till  thou  art  converted. 
Thou  wert  better  to  do  so  at  once.  Thou  wilt  do  it,  when 
thou  art  flayed  to  the  bones.'  I  was  carried  to  the  mayor, 
or  burgomaster  of  the  village,  who  told  me  that,  if  I  would 
not  be  converted,  the  Duke  had  ordered  that  my  wife  should 
be  placed  in  a  convent,  and  my  children  in  an  hospital ;  that 
I  should  be  separated  from  them  for  ever,  and  that  there 
were  yet  fourteen  more  dragoons,  who  should  be  let  loose  upon 
me.  You  see  that  there  was  no  death  even  to  be  hoped  for, 
if  it  be  not  a  death  perpetually  protracted,  without  dying,  in 
a  life-long  prison.     I  have  been  compelled  to  yield."  * 

We  desire  neither  to  confirm  nor  to  contest  the  hideous 
facts,  which  were  published  in  all  the  Dutch  gazettes.    Louis 

*  This  letter,  dated  ISTantes,  Dec.  11,  1685,  forms  a  part  of  the 
correspondence  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  who  was  in  the  ministry  of 
foreign  affairs. 


OCCURRENCES    OF    THE    TIMES.  107 

XIV.  wrote  himself  to  the  Count  d' Avaux  to  deny  them,  but 
he  promised  in  future  to  procure  more  correct  information 
concernino;  them ;  *  and  doubtless  the  advices  which  he  re- 
ceived  were  such  as  to  make  him  consider  it  wisdom  to  hold 
silence  concerning  the  exploits  of  the  booted  missionaries. 

One  would  naturally  suppose  that  the  journals  founded 
by  the  refugees  would  bear  the  impress  of  the  religious  ran- 
cors of  that  period  of  persecutions.  There  is,  however, 
nothing  of  the  kind.  On  the  contrary,  one  is  amazed  at  the 
extreme  moderation,  which  these  display.  The  notices  of 
"  the  occurrences  of  the  times  "  are  wonderfully  free  from  pas- 
sion. It  would  seem  that  the  author,  in  speaking  on  his  own 
account,  relates  matters  long  passed,  and  to  which  he  is  indi- 
vidually a  stranger,  so  calmly  and  impartially  does  he  dis- 
cuss them.  Is  is  easy  to  judge  of  this  by  the  following  pas- 
sage, in  which,  after  relating  his  own  discharge,  he  endeavors 
to  arrive  at  the  possible  motives  of  that  measure  of  unex- 
pected clemency. 

"  I  doubt  not  that  you  will  be  surprised,  on  receiving  this 
letter,  as  much  as  I  was  myself,  on  learning  that  I  was  set  at 
liberty.  In  fact,  who  could  believe  that,  after  being  con- 
fined so  long  in  a  prison,  and  for  a  cause  which  has  had  con- 
sequences so  fatal,  I  should  see  myself  suddenly  delivered  in 
a  manner  so  unexpected,  and  without  knowing  how  or  why  ? 
It  must  be  confessed  that  if  there  had  been  no  other  object 
but  that  of  surprising  me  agreeably,  they  could  have  found 
no  better  method. 

"  These,  Monsieur,  are  doubtless  strokes  of  Providence  ; 
for,  in  view  of  human  policy,  they  are  totally  incomprehensi- 
ble. There  is,  at  this  moment,  neither  general  severity,  for 
I  am  released  with  several  other  persons  ;  nor  general  re- 
laxation, since  many  persons  yet  groan  under  oppression  and 
constraint.  There  is,  therefore  an  intention  of  doing  two 
things,  at  the  same  time,  which  are  directly  opposite,  which 

*  Dispatch  of  Louis  XIV.  to  the  Count  d'Avaux,  of  Dec.  27,  1686. 


108  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

it  is  almost  impossible  to  reduce  to  the  rules  of  uniform  con- 
duct. Thus,  whateyer  jDart  may  have  been  taken  by  the 
Court,  reason  as  well  as  respect  must  lead  us  to  attribute  the 
principal  causes  of  proceedings  so  variable  to  ecclesiastical 
counsels,  "which  have  been  the  source  of  all  our  evils.  We 
know  too  well,  that  those  who  have  given  them,  have  neither 
had  in  view  true  maxims  of  state,  nor  the  rule  of  the  Gos- 
pel. It  was  attempted  to  compel  people,  in  spite  of  them- 
selves, to  change  their  religion,  as  they  change  their  coats. 
This  is  the  true  way  to  make  involuntary  rebels,  or  hypo- 
crites, at  the  expense  of  the  good  of  the  state,  and  the 
honor  of  religion.  Time  has  but  proved  this  too  clearly ; 
but  the  same  counsels  still  exist,  although  combatted  by  true 
interests  fortified  by  the  event.  It  is  this,  apparently,  which 
causes  so  many  variations.  It  seems  to  be  their  object  to 
cause  the  forced  conversions  to  become  voluntary  ones,  or  at 
least,  to  make  the  liberty  conceded  to  one  party  justify  the 
restraint  imposed  upon  the  other.* 

It  would  be  difficult,  we  believe,  to  express  more  judi- 
cious thoughts  in  a  more  moderate  tone.  The  same  polite- 
ness in  form,  and  justice  in  appreciation,  prevail  in  the 
following  passage,  on  the  variations  of  the  French  govern- 
ment in  its  conduct  with  regard  to  the  new  converts. 

"  We  learn  by  our  letters  from  France,  that  the  affair  of 
the  new  converts  is  not  as  yet  likely  to  be  speedily  conclud- 
ed, and  that  it  still  occupies  the  councils  of  his  Majesty  how 
to  prevent  the  occasions  for  these  meetings,  which  continue 
to  occur  in  so  many  places,  for  the  offering  of  prayers  to 
God.  They  hinder  them  as  much  as  possible.  They  im- 
prison, they  hang,  they  pardon  ;  but  these  remedies  are  im- 
potent against  the  causes  of  the  trouble,  which  consist  of  a 
repugnance  of  the  heart,  which  is  an  extraordinary  lever  in 

*  Letters  on  Oceurrences  of  the  Times.  Amsteruam.  Pierre  Sa- 
vouret,  1688.  Extract  of  letters.  We  found  a  copy  of  this  publica- 
tion, which  is  now  very  rare,  in  the  library  at  Leyden. 


JOURNALS    OF    THE    DAY.  109 

all  matters  of  religion.  If,  instead  of  proposing  to  persons 
to  change  their  faith,  they  had  at  the  same  time  proposed 
some  alteration  which  it  was  possible  to  execute,  such  as  to 
quit  the  country,  taking  property  away  also,  within  a  limit- 
ed time ;  or  even  to  quit  the  country  without  property,  as 
was  the  practice  during  the  past  century,  the  King  would 
have  been  voluntarily  obeyed,  in  either  case ;  because  the 
understanding,  finding  it  has  a  choice  of  alternatives,  cannot 
reproach  itself,  or  make  to  itself  any  excuse  for  having  act- 
ed on  compulsion.  But  to  propose  a  change  of  creed,  with- 
out admitting  thereto  the  consent  of  the  heart,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  close  all  manners  of  escape,  so  as  to  force  the  mind  to 
will  that  which  it  does  not  will,  is  to  attempt  a  thing  as  im- 
possible as  it  would  be  to  smother  the  smoke  of  a  coi^flagra- 
tion,  without  extinguishing  the  fire  ;  and  the  wretches  who  are 
punished  on  such  occasions,  are  punished  less  for  their  own 
faults  than  for  those  of  others ;  I  mean  those  who  strive  to 
make  them  act  on  compulsion,"* 

The  author  of  "  Letters  on  the  Occurrences  of  the 
Times,"  afiixed  no  signature  to  the  articles  of  subtle  rail- 
lery, which  flowed  from  his  pen.  The  editors  of  "  the  His- 
torical and  Political  Mercury,"  which  was  founded  at  the 
time  of  the  Eefuge,  and  appeared  monthly  at  the  Hague, 
equally  kept  their  names  a  secret  from  their  contemporaries. 
Others  did  not  imitate  their  reserve,  as  Michel  Janicon,  who 
for  some  time  conducted  a  French  journal  at  Amsterdam, 
and  one  afterward  at  Utrecht.  The  periodical  sheet,  enti- 
tled "  Extraordinary  News  from  divers  places,"  was  created 
by  Etienne  Luzac,  born  at  Leyden,  in  1706,  of  a  family, 
natives  of  Bergerac,  It  changed  title  afterward,  and  became 
the  celebrated  "  Gazette  of  Leyden,"  a  precious  compilation 
of  the  history  of  the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
a  model  of  style,  and  at  the  same  time  of  accuracy,  of  vera- 

*  Letters   on    Occurrences  of  the   Times,     Amsterdam,      Pierre 
Savouret,  -1688,     Extract  from  Letter  vi. 


110  FRENCH  PROTESTAN.T  REFUGEES. 

city,  and  of  boldness,  which  insured  to  it  an  immense  circu- 
lation throughout  Europe.  Etienne  Luzac  also  took  charge 
of  another  gazette,  which  appeared  under  the  name  of  An- 
thony La  Font,  and  of  which  he  became  the  proprietor,  in 
1738.  His  elder  brother,  Jean  Luzac,  printer  to  the  libra- 
ry of  Leyden,  seconded  him  in  the  publication  of  the  gazette 
of  that  city,  which  was  afterward  continued  by  celebrated 
journalists  chosen  from  among  the  refugees,  and  above  all, 
from  members  of  the  family  of  the  first  founder.  The  most 
famous  of  these  was  John  Luzac,  the  nephew  of  Etienne,  and 
the  son  of  John,  who  combined  the  profession  of  advocate 
with  that  of  co-editor  of  the  gazette,  the  direction  of  which 
was  exclusively  given  up  to  him,  in  1775.  In  correspond- 
ence with  the  Emperor  Leopold,  of  whose  liberal  views  he 
highly  approved,  with  Stanislaus  Poniatowsky,  King  of  Po- 
land, with  the  statesmen,  Hertzberg  and  Dohm,  with  the 
founders  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  Ame- 
ica,  Washington,  Adams,  and  Jefferson,  he  found  it  easy  to 
give  an  encyclopedic  interest  to  that  sheet,  which  he  ed- 
ited, until  1718,  and  which  was  suppressed  at  last  by  Na- 
poleon. 

Such  were  the  destinies  of  the  political  journalism  of 
Holland,  under  the  management  of  the  refugees.  They 
created,  also,  literary  journalism,  which  owed  to  them  its  ut- 
most brilliancy. 

The  "  Journal  des  Savants,"  founded  at  Paris,  in  1685, 
by  an  ecclesiastic  counsellor  of  the  parliament,  Denis  du 
Sallo,  was  the  first  scientific  publication  which  appeared  in 
Europe.  Imitated,  almost  immediately,  in  Italy,  in  Ger- 
many, and  in  England,  it  gave  birth  to  a  multitude  of  re- 
views, all  of  which  it  has  survived.  The  noble  idea  of  giv- 
ing competent  judges  to  literary  productions,  at  first  realized 
in  France  under  the  auspices  of  Colbert,  was  propagated  by 
refugees  on  the  free  soil  of  Holland.  It  was  Bayle,  who  open- 
ed this  new  and  productive  vein.     The  desire  of  repressing 


THE    JOURNAL    DES    SAVANTS.  HI 

the  audacious    insolence  of  Nicholas   de  Blegny  and    his 
"  Scientific  Mercury,"  and  the  urgency   of  Jurieu,  who  at 
that  time  hoped  to  find  in  him  a  zealous  apologist  for  his 
own  ideas,  decided  him  to  publish  his  "  News  of  the  Repub- 
lic of  Letters,"  which  appeared  in  1684.     His  intellectual 
activity,  which  was   prodigious,  his  vast  information,   the 
original  turn,  which  he  had  the  art  of  giving  to  all  his  works, 
and   his  extensive   correspondence,  insured  the  success  of 
this  enterprise.     Some  refugees  conceived  a  hope  that  he 
would  transform  his  journal  into  a  weapon  of  war,  to  be  aim- 
ed against  their  enemies.     He  would  not  concede   to  their 
wishes.     He  desired  that  the  whole  republic  of  letters  should 
profit  by  the  great  liberty  of  the  press  possessed  by  Holland. 
But  he  was  determined  only  to  use  that  liberty  with  mode- 
ration, to  treat  authors,  whether  Protestant  or  Papist,  with 
equal  impartiality,  and  to  speak  of  their  writings  only  with 
the  discretion  of  a  judge,  inaccessible  to  fear  or  favor.     The 
philosophic  spirit,  suppressed  by  the  precautions  of  a  suspi- 
cious police,  and  yet  more  by  the  slowness  and  negligence 
of  the  censors  charged  with  the  examination  of  new  books, 
had  difficulty  in  finding  in  France  wherewithal  to  satisfy  its 
desire  of  discussion.     Thus,  minds  eager  for  independence, 
but  compelled  to  be  prudent,  thought  themselves  happy  to 
find  in  Bayle's  Journal  an  organ  convenient  to  their  timid- 
ity ;  and  more  than  one  article  was  sent  to  him  secretly  trom 
Paris.     One   came   to   him  from  Fontenelle,   through  the 
hands  of  Basnage,  which  caused  some  excitement  among  the 
learned  public.     It  was  a  fictitious  letter  from  Batavia,  in 
which  were  related  events,  supposed  to  have  occurred  in  the 
island  of  Borneo,  on  the  occasion  of  the  rivalry  of  two  pre- 
tenders to  the  throne,  Wlreo  and  Enegue,  transparent  ana- 
grams of  Rome  and   Geneva.     This  bold  allegory  compro- 
mised  Fontenelle,  whom  the  bold  refugee  had  named,  with- 
out thinking  of  the  consequences  ;  and,  if  Voltaire  may  be 
believed,  the  French  Academician  only  avoided  the  Bastile 


112  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

by  winning  pardon  for  his  opinion,  by  means  of  some  verses 
rejoicing  over  the  downfall  of  heresy. 

When,  in  1687,  fatigue  and  ill  health  compelled  Bayle  to 
renounce  the  "  News  of  the  Republic  of  Letters,"  three 
journals  divided  among  them  its  succession,  and  supported 
themselves  after  its  decease  with  different  merits  and  success. 
The  first  was  "  The  Universal  Library "  of  John  Bayle, 
which  appeared,  from  1696  to  1703;  and  was  followed  by 
"The  Select  Library,"  from  1703  to  1713;  and  later  yet, 
"The  Ancient  and  Modern  Library,"  from  1713  to  1721. 
Although  that  writer,  who  was  born  at  Geneva,  ought  not  to 
be  regarded  as  a  refugee,  he  nevertheless  attached  himself 
strongly  to  the  numerous  families  which  fled  from  France 
in  order  to  escape  from  persecution  ;  for  his  grandfather. 
Nicholas  Leclerc,  a  native  of  Beauvais  in  Picardy,  had  been 
carried  off  while  quite  a  child,  from  his  father's  house,  by  his 
mother,  who  was  a  zealous  Protestant,  and  who  fled  with  him 
first  into  Dauphiny,  and  thence  to  the  city  of  Calvin.  The 
second  was  edited,  with  a  remarkable  force  of  criticism  and 
analysis,  by  Henry  Basuage,  of  Beauval,  a  friend  of  Bayle, 
and  brother  of  James  Basnage,  who  actually  continued  "  The 
News"  under  the  title  of  "  History  of  the  Works  of  Scien- 
tific Men,"  a  monthly  review,  which  he  edited,  from  1687  to 
1709.  The  third,  protected  by  the  title,  which  had  been 
rendered  illustrious  by  the  talents  of  Bayle,  was  directed  by 
a  refugee  minister,  named  Bernard,  who  began  its  publication 
in  1699. 

The  most  purely  literary  of  these  three  collections  was 
that  of  Basnage ;  the  most  scientific,  that  of  Leclerc ;  the 
third,  void  of  all  originality,  forms  the  transition  to  the 
journals  of  the  same  character,  which  abounded  in  Holland, 
during  the  eighteenth  century.  The  only  writer,  who  sprang 
from  the  "  Refuge,"  and  continued  the  literary  career  of 
Bayle  and  his  immediate  successors,  was  Elias  Luzac,  whose 
articles,    inserted  in  the  "  Impartial  Library,"  and  in  the 


VAN    EFFEN.  113 

"  Library  of  Sciences,"  are  written  with  incontestable  talent. 
In  1766,  he  even  had  the  honor  of  determining,  by  an  eloquent 
memorial,  the  rejection  of  a  project  of  censorship  of  the  press, 
which  was  entertained  in  the  assembly  of  the  States  of 
Holland. 

The  Hollanders,  in  thei*'  turn,  entered  upon  the  career 
opened  by  the  refugee  writers.  Van  Effen  issued  the  "  Lit- 
erary Journal,"  the  "  Political  and  Grallant  Courier,"  the 
"  New  French  Spectator ;"  and  then,  addressing  himself 
directly  to  his  countrymen,  he  published  in  their  own  tongue, 
from  1710  to  1748,  the  "  Republic  of  Scientific  Men,"  fol- 
lowed by  many  other  periodical  works,  uttered  in  the  same 
language,  with  the  same  end  in  view. 

If  it  be  considered,  that,  in  its  first  origin,  the  French 
Academy  was  almost  purely  a  monarchical  institution,  that 
its  acts  are  often  blotted  by  flattery,  and  that  the  Court  of 
Louis  XIY.  was  in  truth  the  centre  of  the  literature  of  that 
great  century — if  it  be  considered,  how  the  French  writers 
were  bowed  down  under  the  law  of  a  dominant  church,  before 
which  the  most  sublime  geniuses  fell  prostrate ;  the  truly 
civilizing  influence  which  the  refugees  exercised  in  Holland, 
cannot  fail  to  be  appreciated  ;  and  the  high  bearing  of  the 
services  which  they  rendered  to  that  country,  and  to  all 
Europe,  in  creating  public  instruments,  independent  of  a 
suspicious  power,  in  popularizing,  by  their  own  method,  the 
liberal  principles  which  they  professed,  both  in  politics  and 
in  religion,  and  in  thus  realizing  the  noble  and  happy  thought 
of  a  sort  of  literary  republic,  must  ever  be  remembered  to 
their  honor. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

OF    THE     INFLUENCE    OF     THE     REFUGEES     ON     THE     PROGRESS    OF 
AGRICULTURE,    MANUFACTURES    AND    COMMERCE. 

French  cultivators  in  the  Barony  of  Breda,  and  the  province  of  Friseland— Influ- 
ence on  Manufactures— Reports  of  the  Count  d'Avaux — Measures  taken  by  the 
City  of  Amsterdam  —Peter  Bailie — Measures  of  the  other  towns — New  manufac- 
tures created  at  Amsterdam— Manufactures  founded  at  Rotterdam — Progress  of 
Industry  at  Leyden  and  Harlacm — Manufactures  established  In  other  towns — 
Improvement  in  mechanical  arts — French  paper  manufacture — Progress  of 
printing  and  the  book  trade— Huguetan— Diminution  of  French  exports  into 
Holland — Influence  of  the  Refugees  on  the  progress  of  Commerce. 

Protestant  France  furnished  only  a  small  number  of  poor 
cultivators  to  the  United  Provinces,  almost  all  natives  of 
the  southern  provinces,  who  established  themselves  partly 
in  the  ancient  barony  of  Breda,  and  partly  in  Friseland. 
The  former  received  lands,  which  were  generously  distrib- 
uted to  them  by  the  Prince  of  Orange.  The  magistracy 
of  Friseland  gave  them  to  others,  who  put  them  under 
cultivation,  and  thus  contributed  to  the  public  prosperity. 
The  richest  cultivators  were  dispersed  through  the  Seven 
Provinces,  and  did  not  form  distinct  agricultural  colonies. 
Their  descendants  are,  at  this  day,  confounded  with  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  country,  while  in  Friseland  the  families  who 
came  from  France  may  still  be  recognized,  not  only  by  their 
names,  but  by  their  modes  of  culture,  and  above  all  by  their 


FRENCH    MANUFACTURES    IN    HOLLAND.  115 

traditional  custom  of  surrounding  their  property  with  canals 
to  mark  their  limits. 

The  commerce  and  manufactures  of  the  Netherlands 
owed  a  great  increase  to  the  refugees,  in  a  far  greater  degree 
than  did  agriculture.  The  principal  fabricators,  merchants 
and  workmen  had  retired  through  choice  into  England  and 
Holland,  whither  it  was  easier  for  them  to  transport  the  pro- 
perty which  they  had  saved,  so  as  to  derive  advantage  from 
their  industry  or  capital.  Most  of  those  who  fixed  them- 
selves in  the  United  Provinces  were  natives  of  Normandy, 
Brittany,  Poitou,  and  Gruienne.  They  endowed  their  adopt- 
ed country  with  many  new  manufactures,  aided  in  the  re-es- 
tablishment of  those  which  had  fallen  into  decay,  and  com- 
municated to  the  national  commerce  the  most  lively  impulse. 
The  numerous  reports  of  the  Count  d'Avaux  sufficiently 
show  to  what  extent  the  French  government  was  engrossed  by 
the  disappearance  of  so  many  manufacturers  and  merchants, 
whose  departure  impoverished  the  kingdom  and  enriched  the 
foreigner.  He  wrote  on  the  11th  of  September,  1685;  "I 
am  informed  that  more  than  sixty  French  Protestants  have 
embarked  at  Nances  on  board  of  a  Dutch  vessel,  after  having 
sold  their  property  and  carried  with  them  as  much  money  as 
they  could."*  He  had  already  previously  informed  Louvois 
of  the  escape  of  many  fabricators,  and  the  establishment  at 
Amsterdam  of  a  manufactory  of  flowered  silk,  which,  said 
he,  has  succeeded  very  well.f  At  several  times,  he  insisted 
upon  the  disastrous  consequences  of  the  flight  of  so  large  a 
number  of  workmen.  On  the  9th  of  May,  1686,  he  wrote  to 
Seignelay,  that  he  could  not  conceal  the  pain  he  experienced 
in  seeing  the  French  manufactures  becoming  established  in 
Holland.  "  That  of  bolting  cloths,  of  which  so  great  a  sale 
was  made  to  all  the  world,  and  which  was  unknown  in  Hol- 
land, is  thriving  at  this  hour  in  Rotterdam  ;   there  is  also  es- 

*  Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  v.  p.  140. 
f  Id.  vol.  iv.  p.  278. 


116  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

tablished  there  among  the  other  hatters,  one  of  the  most 
famous  of  that  trade  from  Rouen,  who  has  brought  twelve 
out  of  nineteen  boys,  whom  he  had  in  that  town,  to  Rotter- 
dam ;  and  although  he  has  been  there  but  three  months,  I 
know  that  his  hats  have  been  already  imported  to  La  Ro- 
chelle."  * 

This  desertion  appeared  so  sad  to  the  French  ambas- 
sador, that  he  composed  a  memoir  to  instruct  the  King  of 
the  remedy,  which  he  judged  necessary  to  apply  to  that 
evil,  t  There  was,  in  fact,  no  graver  loss  to  fear  for  the 
kingdom  after  that  of  silk  and  woollen  fabrics,  than  that  of 
"  candebecs  "|  and  beaver  hats.  Before  the  revocation,  they 
were  sent  from  Normandy  to  England,  Holland,  and  Ger- 
many. That  exportation  ceased,  little  by  little,  after  the 
year  1685,  when  manufactories  of  hats  had  been  established 
in  the  three  countries,  where  those  of  France  had,  until  then, 
found  a  certain  sale. 

The  republic  treated  these  industrious  exiles  with  marked 
favor.  The  town  of  Amsterdam  admitted  them  to  the  cor- 
porations of  the  trades,  without  subjecting  them  to  the  severe 
proofs  to  which  she  submitted  the  national  workmen.  She 
eagerly  received  the  request  which  was  addressed  to  her,  in 
1682,  by  a  certain  number  of  manufacturers  and  workmen. 
"  We  propose,  gentlemen,"  said  they,  "  to  put  in  the  house 
which  you  have  the  goodness  to  offer  us,  in  the  hands  of  a 
person  chosen  by  you,  eight  thousand  florins  worth  of  good 
merchandise,  such  as  silks,  to  be  estimated  by  you,  and  well 
worth  the  eight  thousand  florins,  to  serve  as  security  for  the  ad- 
vance of  money  you  will  make  to  us,  that  we  may  have  a  hun- 
dred silk  looms,  which  may  be  put  in  that  house,  and  which 

*  Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  v.  p.  267. 
f  Id.  vol.  V.  p.  288. 

X  Candebecs  were  hats  made  of  lamb's  wool,  ostrich  down,  or 
camel's  hair.     See,  Savary's  Dictionary. 


AID    OF    THE    STATES    TO    MANUFACTURERS.  117 

cost  about  six  tliousand  florins."*  The  magistracy  encour- 
aged them  even  in  the  smallest  particular.  It  bought  a  vast 
edifice,  which  was  situated  near  the  gate  of  Wetteringen,  and 
offered  it,  with  the  title  of  "  merchant  and  director-general 
of  manufactures,"  to  Pierre  Bailie,  who  placed  therein  a  hun- 
dred and  ten  looms  for  fabricating  silk,  wool,  and  hats,  on 
the  pattern  of  those  which  he  had  directed  at  Clermont-Lo- 
deve  in  Languedoc.f  Some  refugees  of  Nimes  having  found- 
ed, in  1684,  a  manufactory  of  serges,  which  was  commencing 
to  prosper,  the  city  made  them  an  advance  of  money  equiv- 
alent to  half  of  the  goods  which  they  had  in  store.  That 
same  year  a  like  favor  was  granted  to  a  certain  Pereneau, 
on  condition  that  he  should  establish  fifty  looms  capable  of 
providing  the  manufactured  products,  which  had  until  then 
been  bought  from  strangers.  In  1685,  Jean  Cabrier,  a  re- 
nowned fabricator  of  glazed  taffety,  received  all  the  utensils 
which  were  necessary  to  found  a  manufactory  similar  to  that 
which  he  had  known  how  to  render  so  flourishing  at  Lyons  ; 
and,  when  he  had  proved  his  capacity  by  a  successful  com- 
mencement, all  that  had  been  furnished  to  him,  was  given 
him,  and  he  was  gratified  beside  with  a  reward  of  five  hun- 
dred florins,  and  a  pension  of  two  hundred  and  fifty,  on  con- 
dition that  he  should  initiate  the  Dutch  workmen  who  were 
designated  to  him,  in  his  art,  to  the  exclusion  of  those  of 
other  countries.  :j:  Jacques  Chamoix,  Jean  Pineau,  and 
Jacques  and  Dinant  Laures,  were  likewise  aided  in  founding 
manufactures,  which  soon  contributed  to  the  wealth  of  the 
country.^ 

Rotterdam,  Leyden,  Harlaem,  and  all  the  other  towns  in 
the  province  of  Holland  imitated  the  example  of  Amsterdam. 

*  Archives  of  the  Town  Hall  of  Amsterdam.  Muniment  Registry, 
No.  42,  folio  233. 

f  See  the  Letter  of  Pierre  Bailie  to  the  Magistracy  of  Amsterdam. 
Archives  of  the  Town  Hall.  Muniment  Registry,  No.  4,  folio,  233. 

X  Koenen,  pp.  26Y,  268.  §  Berg,  p.  166. 


118  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

The  magistrates  every  wliere  endeavored  to  attract  the  French 
manufacturers  and  workmen,  by  declaring  that  they  should 
be  subjected  to  no  new  apprenticeship  to  the  trade  which  they 
had  exercised  in  their  own  country,  by  enfranchising  them 
from  all  dependence  upon  the  corporations;  by  exempting 
them  for  a  certain  number  of  years  from  all  imposts ;  and  by 
granting,  in  a  word,  temporary  relief  to  all  those  whose  talent 
inspired  confidence,  and  permitted  the  city  to  count  upon 
their  approaching  remuneration  of  these  advances.  In  1685, 
the  burgomasters  of  Utrecht  promised  divers  immunities  to 
the  French  artisans  who  were  established  within  their  walls. 
Grdningen  and  the  Ommelandes  of  Groningen  published,  in 
1686,  an  edict,  enfranchising  them,  during  fourteen  years, 
from  almost  all  public  charges.  These  two  provinces  also 
engaged  themselves  to  furnish  money  and  raw  materials  to 
all  those,  who  wished  to  establish  cloth  manufactories,  and 
even  assured  them  that  the  cavalry  and  infantry  should  be 
exclusively  clothed  in  their  fabrics.  The  regency  of  Bois-le- 
Duc  distributed  among  them  money  and  houses,  exempted 
them  from  the  billeting  of  soldiers,  excused  them  from  mil- 
itary service,  to  which  the  peasantry  was  subjected,  and  en- 
franchised them  from  every  tax,  for  twelve  years. 

So  many  privileges  stimulated  the  industry  of  the  refu- 
gees. The  city  of  Amsterdam,  which  had  been  until  that 
time  entirely  given  up  to  maritime  commerce,  became  peo- 
pled with  manufacturers  and  skilful  artisans.  She  saw  a 
multitude  of  embroiderers  in  silk  and  thread,  designers  of 
point  lace  and  flowered  stuffs,  makers  of  serges  and  druggets, 
Lyonese*  gold  and  silver  spinners,  and  linen  manufacturers 
from  Aix,  in  Provence,  whose  migration  the  Dutch  magis- 
trates had  promoted  by  promising  them  rich  benefits.!  A 
great  number  of  articles,  which  had  been  formerly  bought  in 

*  See  the  letter  of  Scion.  Amsterdam.  Archives  of  the  Town 
Hall. 

f  Berg,  p.  170. 


GROWTH    OF    AMSTERDAM.  119 

France,  were  thenceforth  manufactured  there  by  the  refugees. 
Serges  of  the  King's  and  Dauphiness'  pattern,  buntings,  sin- 
gle and  double  taffeties  of  every  color,  crapes  of  wool  and 
silk,  fans,  candebecs,  embroideries  in  gold  and  silver,  in  silk 
and  in  thread,  laces,  "  equipures,"  *  point  lace  a  la  reine,  a 
manufactory  of  which  had  been  founded  in  the  House  of  Or- 
phans, brocades,  ribbons,  flowered  and  plain  gauzes,  and  bea- 
ver hats.  When  the  city  received  its  last  aggrandizement, 
by  the  construction  of  the  quarter  comprised  between  that 
of  the  Jews  and  the  rampart,  from  the  Arnstel  to  the  quay 
of  Rapenburgh,  the  new  houses  became  peopled  in  a  great 
part  by  French  workmen,  and  chiefly  by  hatters.  The  name 
of  the  street  of  the  hatters  f  has  remained  ever  since  that 
of  the  street  situated  near  the  gate  of  Utrecht,  and  not  far 
from  the  gate  of  Weesper  stands  one  of  the  finest  manu- 
factories of  candebecs  with  which  the  refugees  enriched  Hol- 
land. |  "  All  these  branches  of  industry,"  wrote  Scion  to  the 
magistracy  of  Amsterdam,  "have  been  established  in  two  years 
of  time  and  without  expense,  while  on  the  other  hand,  all  your 
predecessors  could  never  accomplish  it  with  all  their  appli- 
cations, and  the  greatest  ministers  of  the  most  Christian  king 
vainly  spent  many  millions  for  that  end.  They  filled  the  city 
more  and  more  with  inhabitants,  increased  its  public  revenues, 
strengthened  its  walls  and  suburbs,  multiplied  the  arts  and 
manufactures,  established  new  fashions,  made  money  circu- 
late, raised  new  buildings,  caused  commerce  to  flourish  more 
and  more,  'fortified  the  Protestant  religion,  caused  a  greater 
abundance  of  every  thing,  and  even  went  abroad  to  attract 
profit  from  every  quarter, — Germany,  the  kingdoms  of  the 
North,  Spain,  the  Baltic  Sea,  the  West  Indies  and  American 
Islands,  and  even  England.  They,  in  a  word,  contributed  to 
render   Amsterdam  one  of  the  most  famous  cities  in  the 

*  A  species  of  French  merchandise  for  which  no  English  name  can 
be  found, — Translator' s  tiote. 

f  Hoedenmakerspad       X  Berg,  p.  169. 


120  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

world,  and  like  the  ancient  city  of  Tyre,  which  the  prophet 
named  the  '  perfection  of  beauty,'  and  of  which  he  said,  that 
'  she  trafficked  with  all  islands  and  all  nations  ;  that  her 
paths  were  in  the  heart  of  the  sea ;  that  all  ihe  ships  and 
sailors  of  the  ocean  came  to  her  port ;  that  she  abounded  in 
all  kinds  of  merchandise,  and  that  all  her  merchants  were 
princes.'  "* 

The  manufactures,  established  by  the  refugees,  increased 
the  prosperity  of  Amsterdam,  with  a  rapidity  which  struck 
Europe  with  astonishment.  One  can  judge  of  it  by  the  re- 
port which  was,  in  1686,  addressed  to  the  Elector  of  Branden- 
burgh,  by  his  ambassador  in  Holland.  The  prodigious  suc- 
cess of  the  French  manufactures,  the  fine  manufacture  of 
glazed  taffeties,  which  was  considered  impossible,  except  at 
Tours  and  Lyons,  the  fall  in  the  price  of  silk  stuffs  which  were 
formerly  sold  at  fifty  sous,  but  had  fallen  to  thirty-six,  that 
of  beaver  hats,  for  which  ten  crowns  were  formerly  paid,  but 
which  now  cost  no  more  than  six ;  such  were  the  benefits 
which  that  city  owed  to  its  generous  hospitality,  and  which 
the  envoy  of  Frederic  William  described  to  his  master. f 

Kotterdam,  above  all,  became  enriched  by  the  introduction 
of  French  hatmaking.  Many  of  the  best  hat  manufacturers 
of  Rouen, — Pierre  Varin,  Louis  Thiolet,  and  David  Mallet, 
who  had  formerly  sent  every  year  thousands  of  candebecs  to 
Holland,  had  established  themselves  within  its  walls,  and 
did  not  delay  to  make  important  exportations  from  the  ter- 
titory  of  the  republic  into  the  neighboring  countries.  Se- 
conded by  Jacques  Du  Long,  Pierre  Bourdon,  and  many 
other  manufacturers  who  had  settled  at  Amsterdam,  they 
solicited  the  suppression  of  the  duties  which  the  state  im- 
posed upon  the  export  of  hats,  and  the  increase  of  those 
which  it  collected  from  their  import.  Notwithstanding  its 
repugnance  to  the  protective  system,  the  Dutch  government 
*  Letter  of  Scion  to  the  magistracy  of  Amsterdam. 
f  Memoirs  of  Erman  and  Reclam,  vol.  v.  p.  118. 


THE    HAT    TE.ADE.  121 

acceded  to  that  request,  in  order  to  favor  an  increasing 
branch  of  industry,  and  one  which  was  singularly  profitable 
to  the  country.  The  export  duties,  which  were  four  sous 
the  pound,  gross,  were  abolished,  and  those  of  import  were 
as  much  increased.*  From  that  time,  the  French  hatters 
found  it  no  longer  advantageous  to  sell  their  productions  in 
the  Seven  Provinces;  and  to  stimulate  still  more  that  new 
branch  of  industry,  which  was  thenceforth  nationalized  to 
the  Dutch  soil,  the  old  regulations  were  abolished,  which  re- 
stricted the  hatters  from  employing  more  than  eight  work- 
men, and  the  refugees  were  permitted  to  take  as  many  into 
their  service  as  they  might  deem  necessary. f  But  the 
French  manufactures  nowhere  received  a  more  remarkable 
development  than  at  Leyden  and  Harlaem.  It  is  true,  that 
those  two  cities,  which  were  formerly  the  most  considerable 
in  the  province  of  Holland,  already  possessed  many  manu- 
factures similar  to  those  which  the  refugees  w'ent  thither  to 
establish.  The  fabrics  of  cloths  and  woollens  had  been 
flourishing  there  during  many  centuries,  and  they  were  still 
more  increased  and  strengthened  at  Leyden,  when  the  vic- 
tories of  the  Prince  of  Parma  had  caused  so  great  a  number 
of  Walloons,  by  which  name  its  inhabitants  were  sometimes 
designated,  to  flock  into  that  city.  But  they  did  not  arrive 
at  their  highest  degree  of  perfection  until  after  the  arrival 
of  the  French  Protestants.  After  that  period,  they  produced 
the  finest  cloths,  the  handsomest  camlets,  and  most  esteemed 
serges  of  Holland.  They  acqiiired  an  European  reputation, 
and  the  increase  of  salaries  attracted  even  the  Catholic 
soldiers  of  Louis  XIV.,  who  deserted,  and  came  to  Leyden 
to   establish  themselves   as   workmen,  t      Harlaem,  which 

*  They  were  raised  from  6  to  10  sous  the   pound,  gross.    The 
pound  gross  was  worth  6  florins,  or  about  12  francs.     Berg,  p,  171. 

f  Ibid.  p.  1Y2. 

\  See  the  letter  of  Louvois  to  the  Count  d'Avaux,  of  Jan.  20,  1686. 
Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  v.  p.  231. 
VOL.  II. — 6 


122  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

had  likewise  received,  into  the  number  of  its  citizens,  a  crowd 
of  artisans  originally  from  Flanders,  also  owed  the  increase 
and  perfection  of  its  fabrics  to  the  French  refugees,  whom  the 
beauty  of  the  situation,  and  the  salubrity  of  the  climate,  had 
attracted  thither,  rather  than  elsewhere.  They  introduced 
manufactures  of  plush,  principally  flowered  plush,  known  in 
commerce  under  the  name  of  "  caffas."  These  were  a  kind  of 
velvets,  which  were  much  sought  after  in  Germany,  Denmark, 
and  Sweden,  where  the  Dutch  merchants  sold  them  ten  to 
fifteen  per  cent,  less  than  those  of  France.*  The  designs 
of  Tours  and  Lyons  were  imitated  at  Harlaem  ;  for  the 
workmen  formed  by  the  refugees  could  never  ascend  to  the 
exquisite  art,  which  every  year  embellished  the  velvets  of 
those  two  cities,  and  chiefly  of  Lyons,  with  extreme  variety, 
and  all  the  graces  of  taste  and  novelty.  The  prodigious  ex- 
tent of  the  trade  of  Holland  with  all  parts  of  the  world  gave 
nevertheless  to  the  plushes,  flowered  silk  stuffs,  which  were 
called  the  "  belles  triomphantes,"  and  silk  stuffs  mixed  with 
wool,  a  reputation,  which  every  where  assured  their  sale. 
These  productions  of  the  industry  of  the  refugees  acquired 
so  great  renown,  that  flowered  velvets  fabricated  at  Milan 
were  sent  to  Holland,  and  then  returned  and  sold  at  Milan 
as  Dutch,  t  The  silk  stuffs  of  Holland  long  sustained  even  the 
competition  of  those  of  Lyons,  above  all  at  Paris,  notwith- 
standing the  recognized  superiority  of  the  latter.  They 
were  sought  for  throughout  the  whole  of  the  north  of  France, 
on  account  of  their  solidity,  and  because  they  did  not  change 
in  pattern  every  year  ;  for  such  was  the  capriciousness  of  the 
fashion  with  regard  to  that  article,  which  was  made  to  con- 
sist in  the  permanent  uniformity  of  the  stuff,  whilst  from 
the  Lyonese  fabrics  new  designs  without  cessation  were  im- 
periously exacted.^ 

*  Berg.  p.  203. 

f  Commerce  of  Holland,  vol.  i.  p.  294.    Amsterdam,  1161. 

X  Ibid.  p.  295. 


HAARLAEM    LINENS.  123 

Among  the  manufactures  of  silk,  with  which  the  refugees 
enriched  the  city  of  Harlaem,  those  of  gauzes  and  threadwork 
deserve  special  mention  on  account  of  their  importance. 
Their  use  was  singularly  diffused  at  that  period.  From  the 
higher  classes  of  society  it  had  descended  to  the  inferior 
ranks.  Those  light  stuffs,  composed  of  silk,  or  gold  and 
silver  threads,  which  were  designated  by  the  name  of  gauzes, 
were  extremely  liked.  They  were  employed  as  objects  of 
ornament,  as  well  as  of  dress.  They  were  made  use  of  to 
cover  valuable  furniture.  That  single  article,  joined  with 
ordinary  silk  stuffs,  employed  3000  looms,  and  maintained 
in  ease  about  15,000  workmen.* 

The  introduction  of  druggets,  stockings,  caps,  and,  above 
all,  French  linens,  contributed  equally  to  the  prosperity  of 
Harlaem.  That  city  had  as  many  as  twenty  linen  manu- 
factories, which  were  founded  by  the  refugees.  Its  in- 
habitants learned  from  them  to  counterfeit  those  of  France, 
to  fold  them  in  the  same  way  as  the  latter,  and  to  imitate 
them  with  such  perfection,  that  they  could  sell  their  mer- 
chandise as  French  in  the  ports  of  Peru  and  Mexico. f  The 
provinces  of  Grroningen,  Friseland,  and  Over-Yssel,  partly 
owed  their  wealth  to  that  new  branch  of  industry.  But  the 
linens  of  Harlaem,  above  all  others,  became  renowned  for 
their  whiteness  and  fineness.  The  fabricators  of  that  cit}'- 
knew  how  to  give  them  so  fine  a  gloss,  that  they  were  in  the 
habit  of  buying  the  unbleached  linens  of  Westphalia,  the 
county  of  Juliers,  Flanders  and  Brabant,  to  bleach  them  and 
afterward  sell  them  in  trade  as  Holland  linens.  |  At  one 
period,  this  manufacture  exceeded  that  of  France  to  such 
a  degree  that  the  manufacturers  of  Beauvais,  Compeigne  and 
Courtrai,  endeavored  to  imitate  it,  and  pass  off  their  produc- 

*  jSTote  communicated  by  M.  Yerpvorten  of  Harlaem.     Compare 
Koenen,  p,  211. 
f  Berg,  p.  204. 
X  Commerce  of  Holland,  vol.  i.  p.  302. 


124  FRENCH   PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

tions  as  Hollandisli,  under  the  names  of"  demi-Hollande  and 
triiffeites  demi-Hollande^''  Beside  these  linens  which  were 
of  fine  quality,  Harlaem  borrowed  from  the  industry  of  the 
refugees  the  hempen  cloths  of  Brittany,  which  served  for  the 
manufacture  of  sails;  and  those  new  fabrics  soon  sufficed  for 
the  consumption  of  the  Dutch  marine,  and  even  permitted 
considerable  importations  to  England. f 

The  workmen  of  Utrecht  and  Amersfoort  reeled  a  part  of 
the  silk,  which  was  destined  for  the  manufactories  of  Harlaem, 
and  which  came  from  Italy.  But  those  two  cities  themselves 
drew  equal  advantage  from  that  magnificent  branch  of  in- 
dustry. It  is  at  Utrecht  that  was  founded,  in  1681,  the 
celebrated  manufactory  of  "  Zidjebalen,"  which  had  not  its 
equal  in  the  Seven  Provinces.  The  watered  silks,  which 
it  produced,  were  of  a  superior  quality,  and  furnished  subsist- 
ence to  five  hundred  workmen,  chiefly  French,  who  aided  the 
Hollander,  Jacques  von  Mollen,  to  create  that  magnificent 
establishment.  That'town  saw  beside  important  manufactures 
of  velvets  established  within  its  walls.  Commenced,  or  shortly 
afterward  directed  by  the  refugees,  they  gave  a  brilliancy 
and  solidity  to  their  productions  which  the  manufacturers  of 
Amsterdam  could  not  attain.  The  French  manufacturers, 
and  chiefly  those  of  Amiens,  who  applied  themselves  to 
imitate  them,  could  find  no  quicker  way  to  dispose  of  theirs 
than  by  selling  them  under  the  name  of  Utrecht  velvets. 
Again,  in  1766,  when  the  Dutch  manufactories  were  in  rapid 
decay,  the  velvet  and  silk  manufactures  generally  of  Utrecht, 
provided  work  for  ten  thousand  operatives.  {  In  conclusion, 
the  old  cloth  manufactures  of  that  city,  and  principally  those 
of  black  cloths,  were  improved  by  the  refugees.  They 
passed  for  the  most  part  into  their  hands,  and  owed  to  them  a 
long  course  of  prosperity. 

At  Amersfoort  the  refugees  fabricated  the  celebrated 
French  stuffs,  which  are  known  under  the  name  of  Marseilles 
*Berg,  p.  205.       f  Ibid  p.  186.       %  Berg,  p.  208. 


WHALE    FISHERIES.  125 

of  Amersfoort.  At  Naerden,  they  created  manufactories  of 
velvet,  whichj  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  still 
employed  as  many  as  300  looms,  each  one  of  which  sufficed 
for  the  maintenance  of  a  family.  Zaandam  saw  raised  within 
its  walls,  in  the  interval  between  1680  and  1690,  mills 
for  grinding  colors,  snuff-mills,  and  manufactories  of  white 
lead  and  blue  starch.  At  Dordrecht,  which  served  as  an 
asylum  to  a  multitude  of  workmen,  sugar  refineries,  brew- 
houses,  manufactories  of  gold  and  silver  thread,  and  those 
of  cloths  and  carpets,  became  more  flourishing  than  they  had 
ever  been  before.  The  whale  fishery,  which  its  inhabitants 
pursued  upon  the  coast  of  Greenland,  received  a  greater 
impulse.  While  in  1679,  it  employed  only  126  vessels,  in 
1680,  that  number  was  raised  to  148;  in  1681,  to  172;  in 
1682,  to  186;  in  1683,  to  242;  and,  in  1684,  to  246.  After 
the  year  of  the  revocation,  it  increased  still  more  rapidly, 
thanks  to  the  arrival  of  a  crowd  of  refugees  belonging  either 
to  the  merchant  or  military  marine,  who  completed  the  crews 
of  the  Netherlandish  vessels,  and  many  of  whom  even  occu- 
pied, in  the  course  of  time,  the  post  of  directors  of  the  Green- 
land fishery  at  Dordrecht.*  Thus  nearly  all  the  towns  of 
the  United  Provinces  received  from  the  refugees  an  increase 
of  wealth;  thanks  to  the  branches  of  industry  they  intro- 
duced, or  which  they  succeeded  in  improving.  They  did  not 
only  create  new  manufactures,  and  restore  those  which  they 
found  established,  but  did  more  still;  they  knew  how,  by 
their  intelligent  workmanship,  to  improve  the  mechanical 
arts,  even  the  humblest  trades.  The  art  of  fashioning  gold, 
silver,  jewels,  and,  above  all,  diamond  cutting,  that  is  to  say, 
the  different  operations  known  as  grinding,  cleaving,  and 
polishing,  were  considerably  advanced  by  that  innate  taste, 
which  they  had  brought  with  them  from  France.  They 
taught  the  Dutch  processes,  superior  to  those  which  that 
people  had  known  before  that  time,  of  refining  sugars,  salts, 

*  Berg,  p.  209-211. 


126  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

sulphur,  rosin ;  bleaching  wax ;  making  soap,  particularly 
black  soap,  dyeing  scarlet,  and  preparing  hides  and  morocco, 
and  chamois  leather.  The  manufacture  and  repairing  of 
clocks,  and  the  trades  of  the  armorer  and  blacksmith,  owed  to 
them  indisputable  improvement.  At  Amsterdam,  as  at 
Berlin,  French  locks  were  soon  considered  the  best  and 
safest.  The  French  shoemakers,  tailors,  hairdressers,  and 
even  the  simple  lace-workers,  were  almost  considered  artists. 
Thus,  by  the  finish  of  their  work,  the  refugee  manufacturers 
and  mechanics  acquired  a  reputation,  which  retained  in  the 
country  considerable  sums  by  which  France,  and  particular- 
ly Paris,  ceased  to  profit ;  they  insured  public  esteem  to  the 
mechanical  arts,  which  had  been  till  then  despised,  and  thus 
elevated  the  condition  of  the  middle  classes,  who  grew  at 
once  into  well-being  and  consideration.* 

To  the  many  advantages,  which  Holland  derived  from 
their  arrival,  we  must  add  the  fine  manufactories  of  paper 
which  they  established  there,  and  the  immense  impulse  which 
they  gave  to  printing,  the  book  trade,  and  the  branches  of 
industry  in  general  which  are  nourished  by  that  manufac- 
ture. 

The  oldest  paper  mills  in  the  Netherlands  were  founded 
in  the  province  of  Gueldres,  in  the  environs  of  Beckbergen 
and  Apeldoorn,  by  the  Frenchman,  Martin  Orges,  who  estab- 
lished himself  in  that  country,  in  1616.  Nevertheless,  not- 
withstanding the  whiteness  and  solidity  of  the  paper,  which 
emanated  from  his  manufactories,  the  Dutch  printers  made 
use  by  preference  of  that  of  France,  which  they  imported 
from  Ambert  and  Angouleme.  It  was  no  longer  thus  in  the 
years  which  followed  the  revocation.  One  of  the  first 
manufactories  of  the  Angoumois,  which  maintained  no  less 
than  five  hundred  workmen,  was  directed  by  the  two 
brothers  Yincent,  one  of  whom  lived  at  Amsterdam,  and  the 
other  at  AngoulSme.  The  latter,  through  the  mediation  of 
*  Koenen,  p.  272. 


PAPER    FACTORIES.  127 

the  Count  d' Avaux,  obtained  a  passport  for  Holland,  whither 
he  had  been  preceded  by  most  of  his  operatives.*  Other  man- 
ufacture! s  followed  that  example,  and  the  French  ambassa- 
dor soon  informed  his  court,  that  their  paper  mills  succeeded 
perfectly  well.f  The  number  of  the  manufactories,  which 
were  newly  established  in  the  first  years  of  the  Refuge,  was 
so  considerable,  and  the  emigration  from  all  parts  of  France 
was  so  great,  that  it  became  necessary  to  send  the  surplus 
workmen,  who  applied  every  day  to  the  deaconries  of  the 
Walloon  churches,  to  England,  where  most  of  them  found 
employment  at  London  in  a  great  manufactory,  which  was 
directed  by  Paul  Dupin.J  After  that  time,  and  notwith- 
standing the  acknowledged  superiority  of  the  paper  which 
bore  the  stamp  of  the  French  mills,  that  of  Holland  was 
sought  for  through  almost  all  Europe.  The  merchants 
of  the  Netherlands  long  supplied  with  it  the  Austrian 
Netherlands,  a  part  of  England,  France,  and  Spain,  and 
almost  the  whole  of  Portugal.  It  was  used  exclusively  for 
interior  consumption.  "  I  know,"  wrote  the  Count  d'Avaux, 
in  1688,  "that  some  famous  printers  of  this  country,  who 
have  commenced  great  works  with  French  paper,  and  who 
did  not  think  it  possible  to  finish  them  without  it,  have 
caused  it  even  to  be  made  in  Holland,  where  new  paper  mills 
have  been  established.  When  this  shall  have  taken  its 
course,  they  will  no  longer  return  to  France  to  seek  paper, 
although  the  best  intelligence  might  exist  between  the  two 
countries."  ^ 

That  foresight  was  realized  but  too  soon.  The  printers 
of  Amsterdam  not  only  used  French  paper  no  longer,  for 
works  printed  in  the  Dutch  language,  but  they  printed  beside, 

*  Dispatch  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  Nov.  29,  1685. 
f  Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  vi.  p.  258. 
X  See  the  Acts  of  the  Synods   of  the  Walloon  Churches  of  the 
Netherlands.     Synod  of  the  Hague,  Sept.  15,  1688. 
§  Negotiations  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  vol.  vi.  p.  332. 


128  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

for  the  account  of  Frencli,  English,  and  German  authors,  a 
multitude  of  books,  of  which  often  not  a  single  copy  was  sold 
in  the  country.  Such  was  the  cheapness,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  good  quality  of  the  Dutch  paper,  that  the  authors 
and  printers  found  it  to  their  advantage  to  use  it ;  and  that 
branch  of  industry,  by  maintaining  a  crowd  of  workmen, 
truly  added  to  the  public  prosperity.  The  manufactories 
established  upon  the  banks  of  the  Zaan,  rivalled  the  best  of 
France,  and  were,  long,  one  of  the  most  important  branches 
of  the  national  industry.  During  almost  the  whole  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  they  sustained  the  competition  of  those 
of  Germany,  which  had  been  founded  by  other  refugees, 
under  the  patronage  of  the  Grand  Elector.  Although  in 
that  country,  the  price  of  labor  was  not  so  high  as  in  Hol- 
land, nevertheless  paper  was  sold  dearer  in  Leipsic  than  in 
Amsterdam,  where  the  richest  merchants  could  content 
themselves  with  less  profits,  and  assign  longer  times  to 
facilitate  payments. 

After  the  birth  of  the  republic  of  the  United  Provinces, 
printing  and  the  book  trade  flourished  in  the  country  of  Lau- 
rent Coster,  under  the  protection  of  liberty  and  the  laws. 
Two  cities,  above  all,  Leyden  and  Amsterdam,  the  one  proud 
of  its  academy,  the  most  renowned  in  the  country,  and  the 
other  rich  through  its  immense  commerce,  have  counted 
among  the  number  of  their  citizens  celebrated  printers  and 
booksellers.  The  Elzevirs  and  the  Blaeuws  have  long  held 
an  elevated  rank  in  the  book  trade,  and  printing  owes  to  them 
the  high  degree  of  perfection,  which  it  has  attained  in  Hol- 
land. But  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  it  was  in 
decay,  and  appeared  to  be  threatened  with  approaching  ruin, 
when  it  was  built  up  again  by  the  refugees.  It  was  they, 
who  gave  to  the  Dutch  book-trade  that  powerful  impulse, 
which  assured  to  it  the  European  influence  which  it  had  in 
the  following  century.  It  commenced  by  editing  a  multitude 
of  Protestant  works,  which  the  severe  prohibitory  laws  had 


BOOK  TRADE  IN  FRANCE.  129 


not  allowed  to  be  published  in  France.  Eminent  writers, 
who  had  been  condemned  to  silence  in  their  former  country, 
found  themselves  for  the  first  time  at  liberty  to  propagate 
their  ideas.  The  books,  the  periodical  compilations,  and  the 
gazettes,  which  they  caused  to  appear,  were  every  where  read 
with  avidity.  They  circulated,  even  in  France,  although 
their  introduction  into  that  kingdom  was  rigorously  inter- 
dicted. In  order  to  deceive  the  French  police,  the  names  of 
the  printers,  and  those  of  the  towns  where  they  printed  those 
works,  were  changed.  It  was  thus,  that  the  books  edited  at 
Rotterdam  by  Renier  Leers,  were  published  under  the  ficti- 
tious name  of  Pierre  Marteau,  at  Cologne ;  and  those  of  Abra- 
ham Wolfgang,  at  Amsterdam,  under  that  of  Pierre  Leblanc, 
at  Villefranche.  The  same  ruse  was  evidently  employed  by 
the  editors,  who  took  the  borrowed  names  of  Jean  du  Pays, 
Jacques  le  Curieux,  and  Jacques  Plein  de  Courage,  and  who 
passed  for  booksellers  of  Liege  and  Cologne.*  Thanks  to 
that  stratagem,  the  States  General  in  vain  jDromulgated 
rigorous  edicts  against  the  writers  who  endeavored  to  degrade 
the  character  of  Louis  XIV.  ;  those  who  were  culpable  were 
assured  of  impunity.  The  French  authors,  themselves,  often 
had  recourse  to  the  Dutch  printers,  whether  because  the  lib- 
erty of  the  press  which  reigned  in  that  country  assured  a 
greater  value  to  their  works  in  the  opinion  of  the  readers, 
and  a  more  extended  publicity ;  or  that  the  character  of  their 
writings  imperiously  commanded  them  to  seek  for  editors 
upon  an  independent  soil.  It  was  thus  that  La  Fontaine 
brought  out  his  "  Contes  et  Nouvelles"  at  Amsterdam,  in 
1685.  The  "  Histoire  Naturelle  de  I'ame  "  of  Lamettrie, 
was  published  at  the  Hague,  in  1745;  his  "Politique  du 
Medecin  de  Machiavel,"  at  Amsterdam,  in  1746;  his 
"  Homme-machine,"  at  Leyden,  in  1748.  Being  prosecuted 
for  the  latter  work,  his  editor,  Etienne  Lusac,  defended  him- 
self in  his  "  Essai  sur  la  liberte  de  produire  ses  sentiments," 

*  Berg,  p.  179.  Note. 
VOL.  n. — 6* 


130  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

which  appeared  in  a  free  country^  with  'privilege  to  all 
true  2^liilo8opliers.  The  principal  works  of  Rousseau,  the 
"  Contrat  Social,"  and  the  "  Nouvelle  Heloise,"  emanated 
from  the  presses  of  Michel  Rey,  a  bookseller  of  Amsterdam. 
Jean  Neaulme  published,  in  the  same  city,  the  first  edition 
of  "I'Emile,"  in  1762. 

A  great  number  of  important  libraries  were  founded  by 
the  refugees  or  their  descendants.  Chalmot,  Neaulme,  Des- 
bordes,  Changuion,  the  brothers  Luzac,  Rey  and  Marchand, 
were  long  at  the  head  of  the  book  trade  at  the  Hague,  Ley- 
den  and  Amsterdam.  The  first  example  of  a  true  European 
library  was  given  by  the  family  of  Huguetan,  originally  from 
Lyons.  The  chief  of  that  house  established  himself  at  Am- 
sterdam, with  his  three  sons,  and  there  created  perhaps  the 
most  extensive  traffic  in  books,  which  has  ever  existed. 
There  was  not  in  the  whole  of  Europe,  and  particularly  in 
Spain,  Italy,  France,  Holland,  England  and  Grermany,  a  city 
in  which  he  had  not  offices,  clerks,  and  factors.  He  had 
storehouses  in  Constantinople,  Smyrna,  and  Aleppo.*  Many 
thousands  of  persons  took  part  in  the  profits  of  that  immense 
business,  which  owed  its  greatest  development  to  the  inde- 
fatigable activity  and  rare  sagacity  of  the  youngest  of  the 
three  brothers,  Pierre  Huguetan,  of  Montserrat.  Most  of 
the  works,  which  were  put  in  circulation  by  that  house, 
issued  from  the  presses  of  Bernard  Picart,  a  distinguished 
printer,  and  no  less  celebrated  as  a  designer  and  engraver. 
Born  at  Paris,  in  1672,  he  had  quitted  France  after  the  rev- 
ocation, in  company  with  his  father,  Etienne  Picart,  a  zeal- 
ous Protestant,  who  had  sacrificed  all  that  he  possessed  to 
his  religious  convictions.  Being  at  first  employed  to  orna- 
ment the  new  books  with  prints,  he  acquired  a  name  by  his 
exquisite  designs,  which  were  often  marked  with  the  stamp 
of  genius  ;  and  thus  added  to  the  reputation  of  the  Dutch 
book-trade,  although  afterwards  he   abused  his  talent,  and 

*  Kuenen,  p.  276. 


LOSSES  IN  REVENUE  TO  FRANCE.  131 

by  too  hasty  workmanship  sometimes  injured  the  quality  of 
his  productions.* 

The  impulse  which  was  given  to  printing,  and  the  Dutch 
book-trade,  multiplied  the  relations  of  the  republic  with  the 
learned  classes  of  France,  England,  and  Germany.  It  open- 
ed new  paths  for  its  commerce.  In  the  interior,  it  contri- 
buted to  diffuse  instruction  among  the  inferior  ranks  of 
society,  who  had,  until  then,  lived  in  ignorance.  Knowledge, 
having  become  more  general,  raised  the  level  of  public 
morality.  The  material  prosperity  of  the  nation,  in  a  word, 
was  affected  by  the  progress  of  that  fine  branch  of  industry. 
A  crowd  of  men  of  letters  not  only  owed  to  it  ease  or 
wealth,  but  it  provided  beside  for  the  support  of  a  multitude 
of  workmen,  such  as  correctors,  binders,  engravers,  designers, 
type-founders,  and  manufacturers  of  leather  and  parchment. 

Silk,  linen,  woollen,  and  hat  manufactories,  paper-mills, 
and  the  book-trade — such  were  some  of  the  principal  branches 
of  industry,  with  which  the  refugees  enriched  Holland,  and 
the  loss  or  diminution  of  which  France  had  to  deplore. 
According  to  Macpherson,  the  total  revenue  of  that  king- 
dom was  diminished  by  more  than  seventy-five  millions  of 
pounds  sterling,  during  the  fifty  years  between  1682  and 
1733.  The  calamitous  wars  of  the  second  half  of  the  reign 
of  Louis  XIV.  were  doubtless  the  most  active  cause  of  the 
decay  of  that  monarchy,  which  Richelieu  and  Mazarin  had 
rendered  so  powerful,  and  Colbert  so  rich  and  prosperous. 
But  the  manufactures,  which  the  refugees  transported  to  a 
foreign  soil,  equally  contributed  to  that  fatal  decline.  It  is 
the  result  of  the  calculations  of  Macpherson  tl;iat  the  annual 
importation  into  Holland  of  silk  stuffs,  velvets,  woollens, 
and  linens,  of  French  production,  suffered  a  reduction  of 
600,000  pounds  sterling;  that  of  hats,  217,000;  that  of 
glasses,  clocks,  watches,  and  household  articles,  160,000; 
that  of  lace,  gloves,  and  paper,  260,000  ;   that  of  sail-cloth, 

*  Koenen,  p.  277. 


132  FEENCH    TROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

flax-cloth,  and  canvas,  165,000  ;  and  that  of  soap,  saffron, 
woad,  honey,  and  spun  woollens,  300,000.  The  total  dimi- 
nution of  the  importations  from  France  into  Holland  was, 
1,702,000  pounds  sterling  ;  that  of  the  merchandise  imported 
into  England  was,  according  to  the  same  writer,  1,880,000 
pounds  sterling.  Thus  the  annual  loss,  which  the  refugees 
who  were  established  in  those  two  countries,  made  France 
endure,  was  no  less  than  3,582,000  pounds  sterling,  or  about 
90  millions  of  francs.* 

The  prosperity  of  the  manufactures,  which  were  estab- 
lished by  the  refugees  in  Holland,  naturally  influenced  that 
of  business.  The  persecutions,  which  were  directed  against 
the  French  Protestants,  had  struck  a  rude  blow  at  the  com- 
mercial relations  of  the  Dutch  with  that  country.  A  great 
number  of  the  French  merchants  had  retired  from  the  sea- 
ports, to  fix  themselves  at  Paris,  or  in  the  environs  of  that 
city,  where  they  had  found,  in  a  certain  measure,  an  asylum 
against  intolerance.  Others  saw  their  houses  sacked  by 
the  dragoons,  their  merchandise  destroyed  or  confiscated, 
and  the  Dutch,  whose  debtors  they  were,  had  been  compro- 
mised, and,  as  it  were,  enveloped  in  their  misfortune.  The 
consternation  was  so  great  upon  'Change  at  Amsterdam, 
when  the  news  of  the  revocation  was  received,  that  funds 
were  refused  to  the  most  solvent  houses,  who  entertained 
business  relations  with  the  French  merchants.  One  of  the 
first  effects  of  the  edict  of  Louis  XIV.  was,  to  assure  to 
Holland  the  money,  the  credit,  the  commercial  skill,  and 
the  acquired  knowledge  of  as  many  of  the  refugees  as 
transferred  th^ir  abode  thither.  She  profited,  above  all,  by 
the  strict  relations  which  they  knew  how  to  maintain  with 
their  kinsmen,  their  friends,  and  their  co-religionists  in 
general,  who  were  dispersed  in  Germany,  in  England,  and 
in  America.     The   severe   austerity  of  their  morals,  their 

*  Macpherson's   Annals   of    Commerce,  vol.  ii.  p.  610,     Loudon 
edition.     1805. 


INFLUENCE    OF   THE    REFUGEES.  133 

habits  of  labor,  the  spirit  of  order,  which  presided  over  their 
lives,  and  the  high  confidence  which  their  religious  character 
inspired,  aided  them  to  create,  by  little  and  little,  some  of 
those  great  fortunes  which  were  one  day  to  contribute  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  state,  and  which  were  formed  under  the 
influence  of  the  same  causes,  to  which  the  ancient  Hollanders, 
the  offspring  of  a  population  of  poor  fishermen,  had  owed 
their  immense  wealth.  The  manufactories,  which  were  estab- 
lished by  the  expatriated  families,  assured  advantageous  in- 
vestments to  great  numbers  of  unemployed  capitals.  The 
exportation  of  the  products  of  their  industry  nourished  in  its 
turn  the  national  commerce  with  foreign  countries.  The  re- 
fugees thus  stimulated  the  traffic  of  the  people  who  had  re- 
ceived them  on  their  escape  from  the  kingdom,  and  in- 
demnified thenij  far  beyond  any  momentary  injury  which 
they  had  suffered  from  the  barbarous  measures  of  the  French 
government. 


CHAPTER    V. 

OF  THE  COLONIES  OF  THE    EEFUGEES  AT  THE  CAPE  AND  AT  SUEINAM. 

Colony  of  the  Cape— Yalley  of  the  French— French  Hoek— Cultivation  of  Wheat- 
Improvement  of  the  Vine— Constantia  Wine— Extinction  of  the  French  Tongue 
in  the  Cape  Colony— Actual  State  of  that  Colony— Colony  of  Surinam— Aersena 
of  Sommelsdik— Families  of  Distinction  in  the  Colony  of  Surinam. 

The  Dutch  colonies  likewise  received  some  thousands  of 
the  refugees.  In  1684,  the  assembly  of  seventeen,  which 
represented  the  Netherlands  East  India  Company,  declared 
itself  ready  to  transport  gratuitously  to  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  all  of  the  "reformed"  who  had  escaped  from  France, 
who  were  willing  to  give  themselves  up  to  agriculture  or 
the  exercise  of  some  trade.  It  also  promised  to  grant 
to  each  colonist  as  much  land  as  he  could  cultivate,  with 
the  first  seeds  and  necessary  implements  of  husbandry,  on 
condition  of  being  reimbursed  for  its  advances,  at  the  ex- 
piration of  a  fixed  time.  About  eighty  families  accepted 
these  offers  and  embarked  under  the  direction  of  a  nephew 
of  the  admiral  Duquesiie.  Yan  der  Stel,  the  governor  of 
the  Cape,  established  them  in  the  district  of  Drachenstein, 
■whither  they  were  soon  followed  by  new  French  emigrants. 
Toward  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  they  formed  an 
aggregate  of  about  three  thousand  men  established  in  the 
interior  of  the  country,  about  twelve  leagues  to  the  north  of 
the  Cape,  in  the  midst  of  a  fertile  valley,  which  is  still  called 
the  Valley  of  the  French.     That  distant  asylum,  which  is 


FRENCH    VILLAGES.  135 

separated  from  the  sea  by  a  vast  extent  of  sand  and  heather, 
is  situated  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain  which  serves  as  its 
southern  boundary,  and  which,  likewise,  still  bears  the  name 
of  French  Mountain.  On  the  north,  it  is  bounded  by  a 
chain  of  more  elevated  mountains,  which  form  part  of  the 
Hottentot  country.  In  that  valley,  which  extends  about 
fourteen  leagues  in  length  and  three  in  breadth,  can  be 
still  easily  recognized  many  villages,  which  were  formerly 
constructed  by  the  refugees.  The  most  ancient  is  that 
of  Drachenstein,  where  was  built  the  first  and  for  a  long 
time  the  only  French  church  used  by  the  exiles,  who  were 
obliged  to  repair  thither  from  considerable  distances.  The 
first  pastor,  Simon,  appears  to  have  exercised  a  happy  in- 
fluence over  that  growing  colony,  for  his  memory  is  vene- 
rated there,  and  they  still  show  the  traveller  a  mountain, 
not  far  distant  from  the  humble  hamlet  of  which  he  was  long 
the  minister  and  father,  which  bears  his  name.  Another 
village  is  called  French  Hoek.  or  the  French  Corner.  A 
third,  that  of  Charron,  has  received  the  name  of  its  founder, 
and  almost  all  the  inhabitants  are  descended  from  his  family. 
The  members  of  that  French  clan  have  always  had  for  their 
chief,  an  old  man  chosen  from  among  the  elders  of  the  com- 
munity, without  whose  advice  they  attempted  no  important 
enterprise.  That  patriarchal  government,  so  greatly  in  con- 
formity with  the  democratic  ideas  of  the  first  Calvinists,  has 
been  favorable  to  industry,  which  has  developed  itself  more 
in  that  village  than  in  the  others,  and  has  rendered  it  one  of 
the  most  opulent  and  beautiful  in  the  whole  country.  It 
has  been  no  less  useful  in  maintaining  purity  of  morals, 
simplicity  of  customs,  and  faith  and  piety,  which  are  pre- 
served intact  among  the  descendants  of  those  expatriated 
families.  There  exists  a  fourth  village,,  the  most  con- 
siderable of  all,  that  of  the  Pearl,  the  inhabitants  of  which, 
being  exclusively  given  up  to  agricultural  pursuits,  are  the 


136  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

richest  of  that  ancient  Dutch  possession,  which  now  belongs 
to  the  English. 

The  emigrants  applied  themselves  chiefly  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  wheat.  It  was  among  them  that  the  best  bread  in 
the  whole  colony  was  eaten,  not  in  the  least  because  their 
wheat  was  of  a  superior  quality,  but  because  the  French 
method,  which  had  been  brought  by  their  ancestors,  v/as 
handed  down  without  alteration  from  father  to  son.*  The 
fields,  which  they  cleared,  were  soon  covered  with  fruit-trees, 
which  were,  until  then,  unknown  to  the  inhabitants  of  South 
Africa.  From  the  commencement  of  the  refuge,  the  plan- 
tations of  the  French  burgomasters  of  Drachenstein,  Louis 
Le  Grand  and  Abraham  A^illiers,  were  quoted  among  the 
most  flourishing  in  the  country. f  The  colony  of  the  Cape 
owes  to  them  besides,  if  not  the  introduction,  at  least  the  im- 
provement of  the  vine.  The  wines  of  Burgund}^,  champagne 
and  Frontignan,  which  were  the  first  they  transplanted  into 
their  new  country,  soon  acquired  great  celebrity.  It  is 
the  Desmarets  family  that  endowed  the  country  with  the 
famous  wine  of  Constantia.  t  Two  other  families,  the  Cha- 
ronnes  and  Fontaines,  likewise  contributed  to  the  agri- 
cultural  prosperity  of  that  long  barbarous  region,  to 
which  beside  they  rendered  another  service  by  the  eminent 
functionaries,  whom  they  furnished  to  it,  in  the  interval 
between  1714  and  1726.^ 

The  entire  population  of  the  Valley  of  the  French  is 
to-day  about  ten  thousand  men,  four  thousand  of  whom  are  de- 
scended from  the  refugees,  and  six  thousand,  formerly  slaves, 
to  whom  liberty  has  been  given  by  a  decree  of  the  British 
parliament.  Neither  one  nor  the  other  any  longer  speak  the 
French  language.  In  1729,  the  Dutch  government,  being 
inspired  by  narrow  views,  unjustly  prohibited  the  exercise  of 
their  religious  worship  in  that  language,  which  had  until  that 

*  Levaillant's  Voyage  to  Africa,  vol.  i.  p.  42.     Paris  edition,  1790. 
f  Berg,  p.  53.       X  Ibid-        '  §  Kocnen,  p.  378. 


HABITS  OF  THE  FRENCH.  137 

time  been  preserved  with  extreme  purity.  After  that  period, 
the  refugees  were  obliged  to  learn  the  Dutch  language,  and 
to  see,  to  their  great  regret,  the  national  idiom  become 
gradually  extinct  among  them.  When  Levaillant,  the  tra- 
veller, visited  the  Cape  in  1780,  he  found  but  one  old  man 
who  understood  French  ;  but  many  families,  the  Malherbes, 
the  Dutoits,  the  Eetifs,  and  the  Cochers,  called  to  mind  by 
their  names  the  country  of  their  ancestors.  The  colonists 
could  be  easily  distinguished  from  the  Dutch  race,  who  were 
fair  for  the  most  part,  by  their  brown  hair  and  the  tawny 
color  of  their  skins.*  But,  if  they  no  longer  comprehend- 
ed the  language  of  their  forefathers,  they  still  remained 
faithful  to  their  rigid  principles  and  fervent  piety.  The 
traveller,  who  enters  beneath  their  hospitable  roof  infallibly 
finds  placed  upon  a  table  one  of  those  large  folio  Bibles  which 
the  French  "  reformed  "  handed  down  from  father  to  son,  as 
a  sacred  patrimony  and  an  estimable  treasure.  The  date 
of  the  birth,  and  the  names  of  all  the  members  of  the  family, 
are  invariably  inscribed  within  it.  Sometimes  also,  pious 
books  are  found  in  their  habitations,  such  as  the  psalms,  in 
verse,  by  Clement  Marot.  A  touching  custom  is  still  pre- 
served among  these  simple  and  austere  men.  Every  even- 
ing and  morning  they  unite  together  to  worship  in  common. 
No  formal  rules  nor  pompous  ceremonies  are  found  there. 
They  content  themselves  with  praying  from  the  exuberance 
of  their  hearts,  and  reading  some  chapter  from  the  Bible. 
With  the  exception  of  the  chapel  of  missions  of  the  "  Pearl," 
and  the  little  church  of  Charron,  they  have  but  a  single 
temple  for  the  whole  population  of  the  valley.  But  every 
Sunday,  at  the  rising  of  the  sun,  the  farmers  set  out  in  their 
rustic  carriages,  covered  with  hides  or  coarse  cloths,  to  as- 
sist at  divine  service,  and  in  the  evening  they  return  peace- 
ably to  their  homes.  This  is  their  sole  relaxation  from 
labor.  Play  is  unknown  among  them,  and  they  are  untinc- 
*  Levaillant,  vol.  i.  p.  42. 


138  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

tured  with  the  refinements  of  European  civilization.  Being 
entirely  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  rarely  even 
frequenting  Capetown,  they  are  ignorant  even  of  the  great 
revolutions,  which  have  overthrown  modern  society.  In  1 828, 
they  did  not  yet  know  that  religious  liberty  existed  in  France, 
and  when  the  evangelical  missionaries  informed  them  of  that 
great  benefit,  which  seemed  to  them  a  thing  unheard  of,  the 
old  men  shed  tears,  and  long  refused  to  believe  that  their 
brethren  could  be  so  favorably  treated  in  a  land,  where  their 
ancestors  had  suffered  so  cruelly.  Strangers  to  the  literary 
movement  of  their  ancient  country,  they  loved  and  cultivated 
the  useful  arts  and  practical  instruction  alone.  They  sought 
to  disseminate  them  among  their  former  slaves,  whom  they 
had  always  treated  mildly,  and  voluntarily  consecrated  their 
efforts  to  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  among  the  idolatrous 
population  which  surrounded  them.* 

A  second  colony  of  refugees,  less  numerous,  however, 
than  that  of  the  Cape,  was  founded  at  Surinam,  a  few  years 
before  the  revocation.!  The  first  establishments  of  the 
Dutch  in  Guiana,  formed  by  hardy  adventurers  from  Zea- 
land, had  been  ceded  by  the  States  of  that  province  to  the 
East  India  Company,  who,  to  attract  colonists  thither,  as- 
signed a  third  of  them  to  the  town  of  Amsterdam,  and  a 
second  third  to  Aersens,  Lord  of  Sommelsdik.  One  of  the 
ancestors  of  the  latter,  Francois  Van  Aersens,  had  long  been 
the  ambassador  of  the  republic,  near  the  courts  of  Henri  IV. 
and  Louis  XIII.,  and  the  connections  which  he  had  formed 
with  many  Protestant  families  of  illustrious  birth  had  been  re- 
ligiously maintained  by  his  family.  The  Lord  of  Sommelsdik 
himself  had  espoused  a  French  woman  of  noble  birth.     Hav- 

*  See  on  tlie  Cape  Colony,  Bancroft,  History  of  the  United  States, 
vol.  ii.  p.  180.  Compare  the  Report  of  the  Protestant  Missionaries, 
inserted  in  the  Journal  of  the  Evangelical  Missions,  Fifth  year,  pp. 
105,  110. 

f  See  the  Epistle  of  Scion,  already  quoted. 


THE  PROPHET  SAMUEL.  139 

ing  become  the  proprietor  of  a  part  of  Guiana,  which  was  still 
almost  entirely  uncultivated,  he  brought  thither  many  hun- 
dreds of  refugees,  who  embarked  under  the  direction  of  a  com- 
missioner of  the  burgomasters  of  Amsterdam,  named  Saurin. 
Among  them  were  found  numerous  mechanics,  such  as  car- 
penters, masons,  coopers,  blacksmiths,  farriers,  and  a  certain 
number  of  cultivators,  to  whom  he  distributed  lands.*  Soon 
a  French  church  raised  itself  in  the  little  town  of  Parima- 
ribOjt  and  the  refugee  minister,  Dalbus,  was  chosen  to  direct 
that  growing  community.  In  1686,  the  Dutch  ship  "the 
Prophet  Samuel "  brought  over  new  emigrants,  and  some  years 
after,  the  French  colony  received  a  new  increase  by  the  arri- 
val of  many  families,  the  most  distinguished  of  whom  were 
the  Kaynevals,  the  Vernesobres,  and  the  De  la  Sablonnieres. 
Two  governors  of  Surinam,  Nepveu,  and  Lucas  Coudrie, 
were  afterward  chosen  from  among  those  voluntary  exiles, 
many  of  whom  acquired  large  fortunes. |  Commerce,  manu- 
factures, and  above  all,  agriculture,  received  from  them  a 
vigorous  impulae.  In  1683,  there  as  yet  existed  in  Dutch 
Guiana  but  about  fifty  sugar  plantations.  In  1686,  as  many 
as  a  hundred  and  thirty  could  be  counted.  The  country, 
which  was  cleared  by  the  refugees,  still  bears  the  name  of 
Providence,  which  those  sincerely  believing  men  gave  to  it.^ 
The  propagation  of  Christianity  among  the  savage  tribes 
of  that  country  was  in  a  great  measure  the  work  of  Dalbers, 
Fauvarque,  and  the  other  French  pastors  of  Surinam.  Pierre 
Saurin,  in  1697,  left  his  peaceable  retreat  of  Bois-le-Duc  to 
devote  himself  entirely  to  the  conversion  of  the  Indians.  He 
sojourned  a  long  time  in  the  countries  which  were  depend- 
encies of  the  East  India  Company,  learned  the  language  of 
the  aborigines,  taught  them  the  Gospel,  and  saw  his  efforts 

*  Kcenen,  p.  99. 

f  Jani^on,    Present  State  of  the  Kepublic  of  the  United  Provinces, 
voL  i.  p.  42Y.     The  Hague,  11B9. 

X  Koenen,  p.  376.  §  Ibid.  p.  S11. 


140  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

crowned  with  the  most  brilliant  success.  The  synod  of  the 
Walloon  churches  of  the  Netherlands  assigned,  in  1700,  a 
special  fund  to  second  the  labors  of  those  missionaries  of 
civilization  in  the  forests  of  Guiana.  By  a  strange  caprice 
of  fortune,  the  refugees  thus  contributed  to  disseminate  the 
Christian  religion  in  that  part  of  America,  and,  by  a  natu- 
ral consequence,  to  strengthen  there  the  dominion  of  the 
Dutch.* 

*  See  the  acts  of  the  synod  of  the  Walloon  churches  of  the  IS'eth- 
erlands :  The  synod  of  Bergen- op-Zoon,  held  in  the  month  of  May, 
1697,  that  of  Zutphen,  held  in  the  month  of  April,  1700,  and  that  of 
Gouda,  held  in  the  month  of  April,  1708. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE   ACTUAL   OONDITIOX   OF   THE  DESCENDANTS   OF   THE    EEFUQEES 
IN   HOLLAND. 

Services  rendered  by  the  descendants  of  the  Eefugees  in  the  army  and  in  diploma- 
cy— Lonis  Gaspard  Luzac— Decline  of  manufactures  in  the  eighteenth  century — 
Actual  state  of  manufactures  at  Leyden— Increasing  prosperity  of  commerce- 
Popularity  of  the  French  language  and  literature — Translation  of  French 
names — Progressive  decrease  of  the  number  of  French  churches — Actual  con- 
dition of  the  churches,  founded  at  the  epoch  of  the  emigration. 

The  influence  that  the  refugees  exercised  in  Holland,  was 
not  confined  to  the  first  years  of  the  emigration.  It  con- 
tinued through  the  whole  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  the 
trace  of  it  can  be  easily  followed. 

The  descendants  of  the  brave  officers  who  had  so  ener- 
getically sustained  the  cause  of  William  of  Orange,  and 
shed  their  blood  upon  so  many  battle-fields  in  Ireland,  Flan- 
ders, France  and  Spain,  considered  it  an  honor  to  follow  the 
career  of  their  ancestors.  Faithful  to  the  glorious  tradition 
of  the  French  nobility,  from  which  most  of  them  were  sprung, 
those  who  fixed  themselves  in  the  Seven  Provinces  continued 
to  defend  with  their  swords  the  republic  which  adopted 
them.  The  families  of  Mauregnault  and  Collot  d'Escury 
have  given  a  great  number  of  its  best  officers  to  the  Dutch 
artillery.  That  of  the  Baron  d'Yvoi  has  furnished  engi- 
neers, heirs  of  both  the  talent  and  name  of  their  celebrated 
forefather.  The  Dompierre  de  Jonquieres  have  almost  all 
served  with  distinction  in  the  Dutch  armies.     The  De  La- 


142  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES.. 

neys,  connections  of  the  Jonquieres,  have  remained,  like 
them,  faithful  in  their  attachment  to  the  flag.  One  of  the 
last  scions  of  that  family  was  adjutant  to  King  William  I. 
That  of  Guillot  has  produced  able  naval  officers.  In  our 
times,  the  kingdom  of  Holland  has  found  resolute  and  de- 
voted defenders  among  those  of  its  citizens,  whose  French 
names  sufficiently  attest  their  origin;  General  Guicherit, 
Paul  Delprat,  lieutenant- colonel  of  engineers  and  command- 
ant of  the  Military  Academy  at  Breda ;  Huet,  who  perished 
while  still  young,  in  the  struggle  provoked,  in  1830,  by  the 
insurrection  of  Belgium ;  Munier,  who  signalized  his  courage 
at  the  siege  of  Antwerp,  where  he  served  as  captain  of  engi- 
neers ;  and  the  General  Baron  Chasse,  who  defended  the 
citadel  of  that  town  against  Marshal  Gerard. 

Others  of  them  served  the  state  as  ministers  and  diplo- 
matists. Lestevenon  was  ambassador  to  the  Court  of  Louis 
XV.  Censier  was  employed  at  several  times  as  a  negotia- 
tor. Delprat,  the  father  of  Paul  Delprat,  was  secretary- 
general  to  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  under  King  Louis, 
the  brother  of  Napoleon.  At  the  restoration  of  the  House 
of  Orange,  in  1814,  William  I.  conferred  upon  him  the  title 
and  office  of  private  secretary  to  the  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  and  elevated  him  to  the  rank  of  commander  in  the 
order  of  the  lion  of  the  Netherlands,  and  the  Prince  of 
Orange  intrusted  him  beside  with  the  religious  education 
of  his  three  sons,  the  princes  William,  Henry,  and  Alex- 
ander.* At  a  more  recent  epoch,  Blusse,  Collot  d'Escury, 
and  Louis  Gaspard  Luzac,  have  been  members  of  the  States 
General.  The  two  former  exercised  only  a  rather  limited 
influence.  The  third,  however,  who  was  nominated  a  deputy, 
in  1827,  was  for  a  long  time  the  chief  of  the  liberal  opposi- 
tion.    A  loyal  and  sincere  tribune,  he  combatted  the  en- 

*  Delprat  died  in  1841.  "VTe  owe  the  details  relative  to  his 
family  to  the  kindness  of  his  son,  M.  Delprat,  formerly  pastor  at  Rot- 
terdam. 


DECLINE    OF    MANUFACTURES.  143 

croacliments  of  royalty,  stood  up  with  all  his  might  against 
the  project  of  wishing  to  reconquer  Belgium,  which  was  at- 
tributed to  the  reigning  "dynasty,  and  constantly  refused  the 
honors  and  dignities  which  were  offered  to  him.  Carried 
into  power  by  the  revolution  of  1848,  which  brought  to  Hol- 
land the  momentary  triumph  of  his  party,  he  was  one  of  the 
authors  of  the  constitution,  which  to-day  rules  that  king- 
dom.* But  the  progressive  feebleness  of  his  health,  and 
perhaps,  also,  the  impossibility  of  putting  in  practice  the 
principles  which  he  had  professed  in  the  opposition,  after- 
ward forced  him  to  renounce  politics.! 

With  regard  to  manufactures,  the  influence  exercised 
by  the  refugees  was  less  durable  than  their  brilliant  com- 
mencement had  led  to  hope.  The  manufactures  of  silk, 
linens,  hats,  and  paper,  which  they  had  created,  began  to 
languish,  from  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
disappeared  by  little  and  little  from  the  soil  of  the  republic. 
Those,  on  the  contrary,  which  they  had  not  been  the  first  to 
establish,  but  which  they  had  simply  improved,  such  as 
woollens  and  Leyden  cloths,  tanneries  and  sugar  refineries, 
have  been  able  to  sustain  foreign  competition,  and  still  pre- 
serve to  our  days  the  traces  of  the  ameliorations  which  they 
received  at  that  epoch.  The  new  manufactures  could  not 
sustain  themselves,  except  on  condition  of  being  protected 
by  high  tariffs ;  for  the  increasing  dearness  of  manual  labor, 
necessarily  compelled  the  manufacturers  in  time  to  sell  their 
productions  at  higher  prices  than  those  of  France  and  Grer- 
many.  But  the  nature  of  Dutch  commerce  was  imperiously 
opposed  to  every  attempt  at  a  prohibitory  system.  The 
government  could  not  adopt  the  same  regulations,  which 
protected  the  growing  manufactures  of  France.  It  could 
not,  after  the  example  of  the  British  Parliament,  forbid  the 
introduction    of    French  taffety,  nor  load  with  exorbitant 

*  These  lines  were  written  in  1852. 

f  M.  Luzac  at  present  lives  in  retirement  at  Leyden, 


144  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

duties  that  of  the  other  silk  goods,  which  issued  from  that 
kingdom.  The  abundance  of  specie,  with  which  the  banking 
business  and  India  trade  had  overloaded  the  interior  circu- 
lation, and  the  taxes  upon  the  most  necessary  articles  of 
life,  did  not  allow  it  to  desire  the  preservation  of  any  other 
manufactures,  besides  those  which  the  support  of  the  marine 
force  demanded,  or  which  were  sustained  by  the  consumption  of 
the  Dutch  people.  Moreover,  although  it  invited  the  French 
manufacturers,  and  granted  them  some  privileges,  it  did  not 
fail  to  withdraw  these  at  the  end  of  a  few  years,  in  order  to 
do  no  wrong  to  its  own  citizens.  A  single  exception  was 
made  in  favor  of  the  hatters.  Still  this  was  not  long  suffi- 
cient. As  to  the  free  importation  of  raw  silks,  hemp,  linen 
cambric,  which  was  bleached  at  Harlaem,  wools,  and  all  the 
raw  materials  in  general,  which  served  for  the  manufacture 
of  cloths,  it  had  been  granted  long  before  the  period  of  the 
Refuge,  and  the  manufactures,  established  by  the  French 
exiles,  received  from  it  no  special  encouragement.  Aban- 
doned thus  to  themselves,  they  could  not  fail,  little  by  little, 
to  fall  into  decay.  The  manufacture  even  of  silk  goods  was 
not  actually  flourishing,  until  the  close  of  the  war  of  the 
Spanish  succession.  After  the  re-establishment  of  peace, 
the  French  silks,  less  costly  and  fashionable,  with  more  ele- 
gance, soon  regained  their  old  superiority  over  the  markets 
of  Holland.  The  fine  velvets  of  Utrecht  ended  in  being 
made  at  Amiens.  While  France  made  a  war  of  tariffs 
upon  the  Seven  Provinces  which  injured  their  manufactures, 
the  Dutch  merchants  persisted  in  exacting  the  maintenance 
of  free  exchange,  and  opposed  themselves  energetically  to  a 
system  of  reprisals,  which  would  have  been  advantageous  to 
the  new  manufactures.  They  bought  indifferently  all  for- 
eign products,  whatever  might  be  their  origin,  provided  that 
they  could  realize  a  profit  by  selling  them  to  advantage.  So 
Holland  ceased,  near  the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, to  be  a  manufacturing  country.     The  manufactures  of 


FRENCH    BANKERS.  145 

Lejden,  themselves,  are  almost  entirely  decayed ;  and  that 
town,  formerly  so  industrious,  possesses  now  no  more  than 
two,  which  have  preserved  a  certain  importance ;  one  of 
woollens,  directed  by  Paul  Durieu,  and  the  other  of  stuffs 
composed  of  goats'  hair,  and  known  by  the  name  of  "pole- 
mites,"  in  which  the  Dutch  make  a  great  trade  in  the  re- 
cently opened  ports  of  the  Chinese  Empire.* 

But  if  the  branches  of  industry,  introduced  by  the  refu- 
gees, did  not  fulfil  their  expectations,  thoy  enjoyed  a  large 
share  in  the  immense  extent  of  the  Dutch  commerce,  during 
the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centaries.  The  Boissevains, 
the  Bienfaits,  the  Chemets,  and  the  Feyssets,  are  ranked  to- 
day among  the  most  renowned  merchants  and  financiers  in 
that  country.  The  house  of  Cromelin,  founded  at  Amster- 
dam in  the  commencement  of  the  emigration,  has  maintained 
during  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  its  ancient  reputation,  and 
its  books,  which  are  still  kept  in  the  French  language,  testify 
with  what  respect  the  descendants  of  the  French  exiles  have 
remained  faithful  to  the  traditions  of  their  families.  The 
great  commercial  and  banking  houses  of  Labouchere  and  Van 
Oversee  at  Rotterdam,!  and  those  of  Couderc  and  Yereul 
at  Amsterdam,!  likewise  date  from  the  beginning  of  the 
"■  refuge,"  and,  since  then,  count  many  generations  among  the 
most  considerable  in  Europe. 

The  French  language  and  literature  preserved,  during  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  marked  preponderance  which  they 
had  obtained  in  Holland  at  the  period  of  the  Refuge.  The 
young  flocked  to  the  sermons  of  the  preachers  of  the  Walloon 
churches.  The  French  tongue  extended  itself  even  among 
the  inferior  classes,  rude  and  coarse  as  yet,  but  eager  for  in- 

*  They  were  called  "  polemites,"  from  Le  Pole,  the  manufacturer's 
name. 

\  Van  Overzee  is  the  translation  of  the  French  name,  Outre-mer. 

I  The  family  of  Couderc  has  been  for  some  years  extinct.  That 
old  house  is  to-day  directed  by  M.  Pierre  Labouchere. 

VOL.   II. — 7 


146  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

struction  and  improvement.     It  was  studied  in  the  schools  ; 
it  was  learned  by  domestic  usage ;  it  was  spoken  in  the  bo- 
som   of  many  families ;  it  was  habitually  made  use   of  in 
epistolary  correspondence,  and  many  people  would  have  found 
it  very  embarrassing  to  write  a  letter  in  their  mother  tongue. 
At  the  present  day,  ladies  of  a  certain  age  consent  with  diffi- 
culty to  write  in  the  national  idiom.     While,  in  Branden- 
burgh,  the  re&igees  made  corporations  and  formed  themselves 
into  colonies,  separate  from  the  rest  of  the  people,  in  the 
Netherlands  they  were  scattered  in  all  directions.     Their  de- 
scendants are  found  as  well  in  the  large  cities  as  in  the  hum- 
blest  villages.       They   li^ed   confounded  with   the    nation 
which  received  their  ancestors,  and  that  happy  mixture  con- 
tributed to  render  their  language  popular,  and  to  disseminate 
the  taste  for  their  literature.     English,  Spanish  and  Italian, 
which  they  cultivated  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies, were  sacrificed  to  French.     The  Dutch  itself  was  neg- 
lected to  the  degree,  that  Bayle  omitted  in  his  dictionary  the 
most  eminent  writers  of  the   country,  for  having  composed 
their  works  in  a  language  which  was  reputed   almost  barba- 
rous.   In  the  eighteenth  century  the  native  poets  were  either 
entirely  silent,  or  contented  themselves  with  translating  the 
master  pieces  of  the  French  theatre.     Racine,  above  all,  for 
whom  the  refugees  professed  the  liveliest  admiration,  became 
the  object  of  popular  enthusiasm.    Nomsz,  the  most  renown- 
ed among  the    Dutch  poets  of  that  time,  translated  "  Atha- 
lie^  Phedre,  Iphigenie^  and  the  best  pieces  of  Corneille  and 
Voltaire.     They  were  represented  with  immense  success  in 
all  the  towns,  and  they  were  afterward  continually  played  in 
the  principal  theatres.     In   our  times  the  pieces  of  Jouy, 
Ducis,  Casimir  Delavigne  and  Scribe,  translated  into  Dutch, 
have  likewise  attained  an  enduring  reputation,  and  it  was  not 
until  after  the  appearance  of  dramas  of  the  romantic  school, 
that  the   influence  of    the  French  stage    declined   in    the 
Netherlands.     Neither  Victor  Hugo,  nor  Alexander  Dumas, 


FUSION  OF  THE  RACES.  147 

have  as  yet  obtained  the  honors  which  were  granted  to  their 
predecessors. 

A  particular  circumstance  powerfully  contributed  to  this 
long  rule  of  the  French  language  and  literature.  Until  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  descendants  of  the  refu- 
gees at  Amsterdam,  Rotterdam,  Leyden  and  the  Hague, 
continued  united  among  themselves  by  those  bonds  of  mu- 
tual sympathy  which  had  naturally  formed  themselves  among 
their  ancestors  in  the  land  of  exile.  The  relations  be- 
tween them  were  frequent  and  intimate.  They  habitually 
married  among  themselves,  and,  although  Dutch  had  long 
been  familiar  to  them,  French  was  the  language  of  conver- 
sation and  written  correspondence.  But,  in  time,  a  fusion, 
more  and  more  complete,  between  the  refugees  and  the  na- 
tives, was  inevitable.  Saurin  already  foresaw  it  when  he  said 
in  his  fine  discourse  on  the  love  of  country,  addressing  him- 
self to  the  chiefs  of  the  state,  who  were  assembled  around 
his  pulpit  in  the  French  temple  of  the  Hague :  "  One  of  the 
greatest  consolations  of  these  fugitive  multitudes  is,  that  you 
do  not  disdain  to  confound  them  with  those  who  have  had 
the  good  fortune  to  be  born  under  your  government — is,  that 
you  do  not  exact  that  there  shall  be  two  separate  people  in 
the  midst  of  you — is,  that  you  have  the  condescension  to  con- 
sider us  as  if  we  owed  our  birth  to  you,  in  the  same  manner 
as  some  among  us  owe  you  their  maintenance,  and  all  their 
repose  and  liberty." 

Long  prepared,  the  definitive  union  of  the  two  races  was 
in  fact  accomplished  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  and  com- 
mencement of  the  nineteenth  centuries.  Then,  for  the  first 
time,  the  descendants  of  the  French  families  were  seen  to 
publish  works  in  Dutch.  It  is  in  that  tongue,  that  Elic 
Luzac  wrote  his  treatise  upon  the  wealth  of  Holland,  which 
appeared  at  Leyden  in  1780.  In  our  times  Collot  d'Escury 
published  in  the  same  idiom  his  book  entitled,  "  The  glory 
of  Holland  in  the  arts  and  sciences,"  which  was  published  at 


148  FRENCH    PP^OTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

the  Hague,  in  1824.  The  extinction  of  some  of  the  princi- 
pal families  of  the  "  refuge,"  the  unions  which  others  con- 
tracted with  families  of  the  country,  and,  above  all,  their 
daily  relations,  hastened  that  final  result.  If  the  French 
language  is  still  maintained,  among  some  thousands  of  the 
descendants  of  the  refugees,  it  is  for  the  most  part  but  as  an 
instrument  of  study,  the  necessity  of  which  is  acknowledged 
by  all  cultivated  minds. 

Two  facts  correspond  with  that  successive  transforma- 
tion, and  visibly  mark  the  progress  of  it.  In  Holland,  as 
in  Germany  and  England,  a  great  number  of  the  refugees, 
abjuring  their  nationality,  changed  their  French  names  into 
Dutch  ones,  which  were  translations  of  those  their  ancestors 
had  transmitted  to  them.  The  Leblancs  called  themselves 
J)e  Witt ;  the  Dujardins,  Tuyn  or  Van  den  Bogaard  :  the 
Deschamps,  Van  de  Velde  ;  the  Dubois,  Van  den  Bosch  ;  the 
Lacroix,  Van  der  Cruijse,  or  Kruijs  ;  the  Chevaliers,  Buy- 
ter  ;  the  Dupres,  Van  der  Weyden  ;  the  Sauvages,  De  Wilde; 
the  Delcours  or  Delacours,  Van  den  Hove ;  the  Corneilles, 
Kraaij  ;  the  Duchatels,  Van  der  Kasteele,  or  Van  der  Burg ; 
the  Lesages,  Wijs ;  the  Legrands,  De  Gi-root;  the  Dumou- 
lins.  Van  der  Meulen  or  Vermeulen;  the  Dumonts,  Van  den 
Berg,  and  the  Duponts,  Verbrugge.  To  the  change  of 
names  was  soon  joined  the  progressive  disappearance  of  the 
churches,  which  had  been  founded  at  the  epoch  of  the  "  Be- 
fuge."  Of  sixty-two  French  churches,  which  could  be 
counted  in  the  Seven  Provinces,  in  1688,  about  twelve  were 
suppressed  in  the  fii'st  half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In 
1773,  they  were  reduced  to  forty-nine;*  in  1793,  to  thirty- 
two,  still  served  by  forty-eight  pastors. f  Under  the  rule  of 
King   Louis,  many  were   abolished,  by   the   order  of  that 

*  Berg,  p.  75.     Xote. 

f  Teissddre  I'Ange.  Some  considerations  on  the  actual  utility  of 
tlie  "Walloon  churches  in  the  Jv'etherlands,  and  the  means  necessary 
for  maintaining  them,  p.  34.     Amsterdam.     1 843. 


NATIONALITY   OF    THE    REFUGEES.  149 

prince,  ''  Seeing  their  future  uselessness,  and  the  prejudice 
which  they  cause  to  the  use  of  the  national  language."  The 
department  of  the  interior  which  managed  the  administration 
of  the  churches,  during  the  union  of  Holland  with  the  empire, 
did  not  show  itself  more  favorable  to  the  cause  of  the  French 
churches  ;  and  that  tendency  reappeared  under  the  govern- 
ment of  the  constitutional  monarchy,  which  was  established 
in  1815,  to  the  profit  of  the  House  of  Orange.  King  AVil- 
liam  I.  suppressed  many  of  them,  in  1816,  or,  according  to 
the  official  expression,  declared  them  united  to  the  Flemish 
churches.  The  decree  of  1817  allowed  only  twenty-one  to 
exist ;  those  of  Amsterdam,  the  Hague,  Rotterdam,  Leyden, 
Utrecht,  Harlaem,  Middelburgh,  Glroningen,  Dordrecht, 
Leeuwarde,  Delft,  Nimeguen,  Arnheim,  Bois-le-duc,  Breda, 
Zieriksee,  Flessinguen,  Zwolle,  Schiedam,  Deventer,  and 
Zutphen,  to  which  was  afterward  added  a  new  church,  found- 
ed at  Maestricht.*  Five  disappeared  during  the  ten  follow- 
ing years;  that  of  Zutphen  in  1821  ;  that  of  Deventer  in 
1 822 ;  that  of  Flessinguen  in  1 823  ;  and  those  of  Schiedam 
and  Zieriksee  in  1827.t  In  conclusion,  an  ordinance  issued 
in  1843,  decreed  the  gradual  abolliion  of  eleven  out  of  the 
seventeen  churches,  which  still  existed,  and  guaranteed  no 
longer  the  assistance  of  the  State,  except  to  those  of  Am- 
sterdam, Rotterdam,  the  Hague,  Leyden,  Utrecht,  and 
Groningen.J  But  the  duration  of  these  churches,  which 
are  to-day  the  last  ruins  of  the  French  emigration  in  Hol- 
land, is  far  better  as&ured,  and,  perhaps,  even  for  a  long  time 
still  to  come,  by  the  vivacious  sentiment  of  nationality  which 
is  preserved  among  a  certain  number  of  families,  whom  study, 

*  General  and  particular  regulations  for  the  use  of  the  Walloon 
churches  of  the  Netherlands,  p.  240.     The  Hague.     184Y. 

f  General  and  particular  regulations  for  the  use  of  the  "Walloon 
churches  of  the  Netherlands,  p.  240.     Note. 

X  General  and  particular  regulations  for  the  use  of  the  "Walloon 
churches  of  the  Netherlands,  p.  245.     Note. 


150  FRENCH   PROTESTANT   REFUGEES. 

and  sometimes  long  years  passed  in  France^  render  familiar 
with  the  language  of  their  forefathers,  and  who  consider 
themselves  honored  by  their  origin,  as  by  a  title  of  no- 
bility, while,  at  the  same  time,  avowing  themselves  Dutch 
in  heart,  and  united  by  affection  to  their  second  country. 


BOOK  VI. 

THE    EEFITGEES    IN    SWITZERLAND. 

CHAPTER     I. 

HE  ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE  EEFUGEES  IN   SWITZEELAND. 

The  Refugees  of  the  sixteenth  century— Foundation  of  a  French  Church  at  Bale— 
The  Count  de  la  Saxe  at  Berne— Growth  of  Geneva— D'Aubigne— The  Duke  de 
Rohan. 

Division  of  Switzerland  into  two  camps— Relations  of  the  Protestant  Cantons  with 
England  and  Holland  in  the  seventeenth  century— Attempts  at  intervention  in 
favor  of  the  French  Protestants— Diet  of  Aran  in  1684. 

The  fugitives  from  Gex  and  Bresse,  1685— Grema— Journal  of  Jacques  Flournoy— 
Registers  of  the  Council  of  Geneva— Emigrations  of  168T  andl6S8— The  Refugees 
at  Zurich  and  Berne— The  Refugees  in  the  Pays  de  Vaud— Mission  of  Bernard  and 
of  the  Marquis  de  Miremont— Measures  taken  in  their  favor  by  the  Senate  of 
Berne— Aid  granted  to  the  poor  by  the  Protestant  Cantons— Intervention  of  Her- 
wart  and  Walkenaer. 

Polity  of  Louis  XIV.— The  French  resident  at  Geneva— Reprisals  of  the  Sieur  de 
Passy— Threatening  Letters  of  Louis  XIV.— Order  to  the  Refugees  to  quit  Geneva 
—Measures  of  safety  taken  by  the  republic  of  Geneva— The  Baron  de  Yvoi— Alli- 
ance of  Geneva  with  Beme  and  Zurich,  in  1686— Secret  protection  of  the  Refu- 
gees—Intrigues of  Louis  XIV.  against  Berne  and  Zurich— Irritation  of  those  two 
towns  against  France. 
Number  of  Emigrants  in  Switzerland— The  Emigrants  in  the  Canton  of  Berne— Or- 
ganization of  the  four  colonies  of  Lausanne,  Nyon,  Vevay,  and  Berne— Colony  of 
Zurich— Number  of  Refugees  at  Bale,  Schaffhausen,  and  St.  Gall— Number  of 
Refugees  at  Geneva— Right  of  citizenship  and  domicile— The  fugitives  of  Orange 
in  1703. 

While  Luther  gave  the  signal  of  religious  reform  in  Ger- 
many, other  theologians,  such  as  Zwingle  at  Zurich,  (Eco- 
lampade  at  Bale,  and  Farrel,  Theodore  de  Beza,  and  Calvin, 


152  FREXCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

at  Geneva,  were  inciting  a  part  of  Switzerland  against  the 
authority  of  the  Hoi}'  See.  After  a  hloody  war,  the  new 
doctrines  preponderated  definitively  in  the  cantons  of  Berne, 
Zurich,  Bale,  Schaffhausen,  and  in  the  little  republic  of 
Geneva,  which  had  proclaimed  its  independence  in  1535. 
The  primitive  cantons,  Schwitz,  Uri,  and  Unterwald,  and 
their  allies,  Zug  and  Lucerne,  resisted  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  age,  and  preserved  their  Catholic  faith  intact.  But  the 
strength  of  the  two  parties  was  not  equal.  By  the  conquest 
of  the  Pays  de  Yaud  from  the  Dukes  of  Savoy,  Berne  soon 
became  the  richest  and  most  powerful  state  in  the  confede- 
ration. It  was  to  the  prudent  and  circumspect  conduct  of 
the  government  of  that  city,  as  well  as  of  Zurich,  that  Swit- 
zerland owed  the  maintenance  of  a  neutrality  favorable  to 
its  prosperity,  amid  the  troubles  which  agitated  the  country 
on  the  frontier.  These  two  states,  in  fact,  never  ceased  to 
maintain  a  purely  defensive  system  as  the  leading  principle 
of  the  federal  policy;  and  their  influence  preponderated 
over  the  exterior  affairs  of  the  Helvetian  league,  in  spite  of 
the  jealousy  of  the  other  cantons.  They  also  frequently 
served  as  a  place  of  refuge  to  the  persecuted  Protestants 
of  France,  Germany,  and  Ital}',  who  found  there  a  no  less 
sure  asylum  than  in  England  and  Holland.  The  town 
of  Bale,  which  a  community  of  religion  strictly  united  to 
Berne  and  Zurich,  saw  a  French  church  raise  itself  with- 
in its  walls,  which  was  founded  by  the  reformed  fugi- 
tives after  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew.*  That 
church,  the  most  ancient  of  those  which  the  French  Re-^ 
formed  formed  in  Switzerland,  owed  its  origin  to  the  pres- 
ence and  solicitation  of  two  noble  exiles,  Francois  de  Cha- 
tillon  and  Charles  d'Andelot,  the  sons  of  the  Admiral  Co- 
^ig^Jj  who  fled  their  native  country  at  the  news  of  the  Parisian 
massacres.  The  French  portion  of  the  canton  of  Berne 
likewise  received  a  multitude  of  families,  who  abandoned 
*  El-man  and  Keelam,  vol.  iv.  p.  301,  note. 


CALVIN.  153 

their  country  under  the  reigns  of  Charles  IX.  and  Henry 
III.,  and  during  the  troubles  which  agitated  that  of  Louis 
XIII.  One  of  the  most  illustrious,  that  of  Augustin-Con- 
stant  de  Rebecque,  a  nobleman  of  Artois,  who  had  saved  the 
life  of  Henry  of  Navarre  on  the  day  of  Coutras,  retired  into 
Lausanne.  A  celebrated  engineer,  the  Count  de  la  Suze, 
who  was  recommended  to  the  magistrates  of  Berne  by  Agrip- 
pa  d'Aubigne,  established  himself  in  that  city,  the  ramparts 
of  which  he  built,  and  he  founded  there  a  French  church, 
which  he  provided  with  its  first  pastor  in  1623.*  But  no- 
where flowed  a  greater  number  of  refugees  than  into  Gene- 
va. It  was  natural,  in  fact,  that  the  "  French  reformed," 
who  fled  from  a  country  where  they  found  neither  religious 
liberty  nor  personal  safety,  should  seek  of  preference  a  new 
domicile  in  a  neighboring  city,  where  their  language  was 
spoken,  and  in  which  their  most  illustrious  doctor,  the  oracle 
and  chief  of  their  party,  held  sway.  Calvin,  through  the  in- 
flexible rigor  of  his  doctrines,  his  indefatigable  activity,  his 
vivid  and  enthusiastic  eloquence,  and  the  authority  which 
his  austere  life  gave  him,  exercised  over  it  an  irresistible 
influence.  That  vigorous  intellect,  supported  by  an  indomi- 
table will,  had  created  a  Protestant  Rome,  a  citadel  of  the 
reform,  and  an  assured  refuge  against  persecution.  Exposed 
without  cessation  to  the  plots  hatched  against  her  by  her 
former  bishops,  and  to  the  snares  which  were  laid  for  her  by 
the  Dukes  of  Savoy,  Geneva  blended  Protestantism  with 
liberty.  She  felt  the  necessity  of  attaching  herself  strongly 
to  the  new  religion,  as  the  only  guarantee  of  her  political 
independence.  She  was  Protestant  with  exaggeration ;  she 
had  solemnly  adopted  the  reformed  religion  as  the  sole  base 
of  the  public  and  private  life  of  the  city,  from  which  she  had 
excluded   all   practice    of   the  Roman   religion.     She    also 

*  This  fact  was  communicated  to  us  by  M.  Renard,  a  pastor  of 
Berne,  and  former  president  of  the  management  of  the  French  Colony 
in  that  city. 


154  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

eagerly  received,  and  willingly  admitted  to  the  right  of 
burghership,  the  numerous  Frenchmen  who  were  forced  to 
expatriate  themselves  in  the  sixteenth  century.  These  suc- 
cessive adoptions,  moreover,  assured  the  victory  of  the  Cal- 
vinists  over  the  freethinkers  ;  they  gave  the  city  a  new  ele- 
ment of  force  against  its  formidable  neighbor ;  they  added, 
above  all,  to  the  repute  of  the  young  republic,  which  was 
proud  to  reckon  among  the  number  of  its  citizens  a  Germain 
Colladon,  who  afterward  compiled  its  civil  edicts ;  a  Nor- 
mandie,  a  Bude,  a  Candolle,  a  Trembley,  and  a  Sarrasin.* 
Many  of  these  noble  exiles  obtained  from  the  beginning  a  le- 
gitimate influence  in  the  city  which  adopted  them,  and  imme- 
diately made  a  figure  in  its  councils.  The  brave  and 
satirical  D'Aubigue  rejoined  them  there  after  the  death  of 
Henry  TV.  The  power  having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  a 
queen,  who  was  accused  by  public  rumor  of  having  been  an 
accomplice  with  the  murderer  of  her  husband,  the  adoption 
of  a  policy  which  was  injurious  to  the  memory  of  the  late 
king,  and  the  troubles  which  were  every  where  being  reviv- 
ed, determined  the  old  nobleman  to  renounce  his  country 
for  ever.  He  passed  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  at  the 
Chateau  de  Crest,  the  acquisition  of  which  he  made 
upon  the  Genevese  territory,  and  he  died  there  in  1630. 
Such  was  at  that  period  the  bond  of  union  which  attached 
that  republic  to  the  Protestant  party  of  France,  that  a  report 
being  spread  in  1610  that  a  new  attack  was  projected  by  the 
Duke  of  Savoy,  she  received  aid  not  only  in  money  for  her 
fortifications,  but  many  nobles  of  the  most  illustrious  fami- 
lies thronged  thither  in  person  to  defend  her  with  their 
swords,  and  among  them  the  young  Duke  de  Soubise,  the 
younger  brother  of  the  Duke  de  Rohan,  the  young  De  Be- 
thune  and  Desmarets,  nephews  of  Sully,  and  the  Sieur  de  Ven- 
dome,  engineer  to  the  Duke  de  Bouillon,  who  was   sent  by 

*  Of  the  Recruiting    of  the    Population  in  the  little  democratic 
State?,  by  Edward  Mallet,  p.  91.    Geneva,  1851. 


THE    PEACE    OF    ALAIS.  155 

that  prince  to  repair  her  threatened  ramparts.  ''  Your  at 
fairs,"  wrote  Henry  de  Rohan  to  the  Syndics,  "  are  not  so 
private  to  yourselves,  that  the  greater  part  of  France  does 
not  share  them,  and  that  all  well-balanced  minds  do  not 
make  general  cause  with  the  peculiar  interest  of  your  single 
church,"  * 

After  the  taking  of  La  Rochelle  and  the  Peace  of  Alais, 
while  Soubise  had  repaired  to  England,  and  died  there  in 
obscurity  in  1640,  his  elder  brother  demanded  an  asylum  at 
first  from  the  Venetians,  and  afterward  from  the  G-enevese, 
who,  being  bound  by  the  treaty  of  1579,  did  not  dare  in  the 
first  instance  to  permit  an  enemy  of  the  crown  of  France  to 
reside  amongst  them  and  purchase  the  sovereignty  of  the 
land  of  Coligny.  For  an  instant  Louis  XIII.  appeared  to 
restore  him  his  favor.  The  Grrisons,  who  were  allies  of 
France,  being  disturbed  in  the  possession  of  the  Yalteline, 
by  the  vicinage  of  some  Spanish  troops,  who  endeavored  to 
foment  there  an  insurrection,  he  intrusted  their  defence  to 
the  tried  valor  and  skill  of  the  former  chief  of  the  Huguenot 
party.  The  three  leagues  elected  him  their  general ;  the 
King  confirmed  him  in  this  dignity  by  letters  patent,  and 
conferred  upon  him  beside  the  office  of  ambassador  extraor- 
dinary to  the  Helvetic  confederation.  In  1635,  he  did  more  ; 
he  charged  him  with  the  conquest  of  Valteline,  and  confided  to 
him  an  army  of  fifteen  thousand  men,  with  which  the  general, 
so  lately  disgraced,  fought  the  Imperialists  in  the  valley  of 
Luvino,  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Casanna,  repulsed  the  Span- 
iards, and  succeeded  in  breaking  off  all  communication 
between  Lombardy  and  Austria.  Being  recalled  to  Paris, 
in  1637,  he  mistrusted  the  intentions  of  the  Court,  and  using 
his  health  as  a  pretext,  he  returned  to  Greneva  in  company 
with  Prioleau,  La  Baume,  Drusis,  La  Blacquiere,  and  many 
other  noblemen  who  were  attached  to  his  fortunes.     Being 

*  This  letter,  written  from  Fontainebleau,  bears  date  April  18tli, 
1611. 


156  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

this  time  received  with  the  honors   due  to  his  birth    and 
rank,  he  prolonged  his  stay  during  a  year,  and  compiled  his 
memoirs  upon  the  war  of  the   Valteline.      He   caused  the 
works  which    had  been  counselled  by  Vandame  to  be   ex- 
ecuted, completed  the  plan  of  defence  which  had  been  traced 
by  that  skilful  engineer,  and  thus  sheltered  Geneva  from  a 
coup-de-main.     A  monument  of  his  pastime  in  that  city  still 
exists,  viz. ,  the  alley  of  the  Mall  at  Plainpalais,  the  trees  of 
which  he  caused  to  be  planted,  after  having  established  there 
the  game  the  name  of  which  it  has  preserved.     But  the  jea- 
lous  government  of  Louis  XIII.,  always  fearful  that  the 
reformed   might   again  take    up  arms,  surveyed  with    dis- 
trust their  last  chief  established  so  near  the  frontier.      In 
1633,  the  Duke  received  orders  direct  from  the  King  to  re- 
turn to  France.     He  preferred  to  choose  the  battle  field  as 
an  asylum,  and  following  the  instinct  of  his  whole  life,  he 
wrote  to  the  son  of  Henry  IV.,  soliciting  permission  to  go 
and  fight  under  the  flag  of  the  Duke  of  Weimar,  who  was  at 
that  time  gloriously  sustaining  the  combined  interests  of 
France    and   the  Grerman  Protestant   princes,  against    the 
Emperor.     Without  waiting  his  reply,  he  left  Geneva,  went 
to  meet  the  enemy  in  the  Brisgau,  and  was  mortally  wounded 
at    the    battle    of  Kheinfeldt.     The  circumstances  of   that 
heroic  end  deserve  to  be  recalled  in  this  history.     A  writer 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  Fauvelet  Dutocq,  relates  them 
in  these    terms  in  his  "  History  of  the   Duke   de  Eohan," 
which  was  published  in  1667 :  "  The  Duke  de  Weimar  was 
besieging  Kheinfeldt ;  Rohan  represented  to  him  that  he  had 
not  enough   troops  to  remain  in  the  intrenchments,  where 
he  would  be  attacked  at  the  same  time  by  the  besieged,  and 
by  the  Imperial  army ;  and  that  he  ought  to  go  and  meet 
the  enemy.     This  counsel  was  followed  on  the  28th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1638.     Rohan  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  regi- 
ment of  Nassau,  which  was  the  most  advanced.     He  there 
showed    extraordinary  jDrowess,  and  broke    the  wing  which 


BATTLE    OF    RHEINFELDT.  157 

was  opposed  to  him,  in  spite  of  a  vigorous  resistance.  As 
he  was  recognized  for  a  person  of  distinction,  their  principal 
efforts  were  directed  against  him ;  his  equerry  fell  dead  at 
his  side ;  the  officers  who  surrounded  him  were  almost  all 
killed  or  left  hors  de  combat.  He  himself  engaged  so 
briskly  in  the  melee,  that  his  buff  coat  was  scorched,  his 
cuirass  pierced  in  several  places,  and  he  was  wounded  by 
two  musket  shots,  one  in  the  foot,  and  the  other  in  the 
shoulder.  His  horse  having  fallen  while  he  was  pursuing 
the  enemy,  those  whom  he  had  concjuered  made  him  prisoner, 
and  throwing  him  across  another  horse,  took  him  with  them 
in  their  flight.  But  the  major  of  the  regiment  of  Nassau 
overtook  them,  and  delivered  the  Duke  from  their  hands." 

Rohan  survived  nearly  six  weeks  the  effect  of  his  wounds, 
which  did  not  at  first  appear  to  put  his  life  in  danger. 
The  council  of  Geneva  having  sent  to  felicitate  him  upon 
his  brilliant  feat  of  arms,  received  from  him  this  fine  reply : 
'■'  I  consider  myself  very  happy  to  have  found  myself  at  a 
place  where  the  arms  of  the  King,  my  master,  have  acquired 
so  much  glory.  And,  although  I  was  there  without  a  com- 
mand, I  do  not  esteem  the  occasion  less  honorable.  When 
one  cannot  be  at  the  helm,  it  is  one's  duty  to  attend  to  the 
rigging,  and  it  is  of  no  importance  in  vvhat  capacity  one 
serves,  when  it  is  for  a  good  cause.  As  to  my  v/ounds,  they 
are  of  no  account,  and  the  medicament  you  offer  is  greater 
than  the  hurts  demand."  These  lines,  dated  from  Lauffen- 
burgh,  were  the  last  proof  of  friendship  which  Geneva  re- 
ceived from  the  hand  of  this  hero.  Having  been  removed 
to  the  Abbey  of  Koenigsfeldt,  in  Argovia,  he  died  there, 
after  the  extraction  of  one  of  the  balls  which  had  pierced 
him.  Louis  XIII.  did  not  consider  himself  bound  to  honor 
the  memory  of  the  brave  man  who  had  not  waited  for  his 
orders  to  die  in  fighting  for  France.  But  his  religion  had 
given  him  a  second  country,  vrhich  fulfilled  in  his  behalf 
that  last  duty.     From  the  abbey  where  he  had  given  up 


158  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES 

the  ghost,  his  body  was  carried  with  great  pomp  to  Geneva, 
and  there  it  was  interred  in  the  church  of  Saint  Peter,  after 
having  received  the  respect  of  all  the  people  whose  territory- 
it  traversed  in  its  slow  and  solemn  march. 

Thus  was  accomplished  the  last  desire  of  the  Duke  de 
Kohan ;  for  he  had  expressed  the  wish  that  his  mortal  re- 
mains should  be  for  ever  kept  in  that  town  which  he  had 
always  loved.  A  mausoleum  can  be  still  to  this  day  seen 
in  the  old  church  of  Saint  Peter,  which  represents  a  warrior 
of  the  sixteenth  century  in  an  attitude  of  command,  and 
seated  under  a  dome  of  black  marble,  with  an  epitaph  which 
recalls  his  exploits.  The  rigid  city  of  Calvin,  which  never 
granted  a  monument  to  the  dead,  which  did  not  even  erect 
one  to  its  reformer,  raised  that  tomb  to  him  in  its  most 
majestic  temple. 

The  number  of  refugees  for  religion's  sake,  diminished 
as  well  at  Geneva  as  at  Bale,  Schaffhausen,  Berne,  and 
Zurich,  when  the  position  of  the  Protestants  had  been  regu- 
lated in  France  by  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  definitely  fixed 
in  Germany  by  the  Treaty  of  Westphalia.  But  Switzerland 
remained  divided  into  two  confederations,  always  ready  to 
have  recourse  to  arms,  and  so  much  greater  enemies  that, 
having  no  longer  any  thing  to  fear  from  a  foreign  war,  they 
had  not  a  single  interest  in  common,  which  could  make  them 
forget  their  dissensions.  When,  in  1655,  a  French  army 
joined  itself  to  that  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  to  aid  that  prince 
in  exterminating  the  unhappy  Waldenses,  even  in  the  most  in- 
accessible fastnesses  of  their  mountains,  their  co-religionists 
of  Switzerland  became  touched  with  compassion,  and,  sus- 
tained by  Holland  and  England,  they  interceded  in  their 
favor.  Cromwell  exacted,  and  obtained,  from  Mazarin  the 
recall  of  the  French  troops,  and  Lord  Morland,  his  ambassa- 
dor, imperiously  intimated  to  Charles  Emanuel  that  he  must 
spare  his  Protestant  subjects,  and  restore  to  them  the  free 
exercise  of  their  religious  worship.      The  intervention  of  the 


THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CANTONS.  159 

Protector  saved  Geneva,  and  preserved  to  the  Bernese  the 
Pays  de  Yaud  ;  for  France,  which  wished  to  open  for  her- 
self a  passage  into  Italy,  demanded  from  the  Duke  of  Savoy, 
the  cession  of  the  valleys  of  Piedmont,  in  exchange  for 
Geneva  and  the  Pays  de  Vaud,  which  she  engaged  herself 
to  conquer  for  him.*  The  Catholic  cantons,  seeing  their 
confederates  contracting  alliances  with  England  and  Hol- 
land, drew  still  closer  the  bands  which  united  them  to  the 
Prince-Bishop  of  Bale,  the  House  of  Savoy  and  France,  from 
which  they  received  a  grant  of  350,000  livres,  and  the  re- 
newal of  the  pensions  which  had  been  until  that  time  paid 
to  their  principal  families.!  When  Holland,  being  menaced 
by  Louis  XIV.  in  1672,  asked  aid  from  its  co-religionists  of 
the  Helvetic  republic,  the  Bernese,  fearing  the  wrath  of  the 
great  king,  repulsed  in  appearance  the  pressing  importunities 
of  the  ambassador  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  but  they  per- 
mitted him  in  secret  to  levy  a  regiment  of  two  thousand  four 
hundred  men,  while  they  threw  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  en- 
listments for  France.  The  unjust  aggression  of  the  French 
monarch  rendered  the  cause  of  Holland  popular  throughout 
the  whole  of  Protestant  Switzerland,  and  the  ministers  de- 
nounced from  their  pulpits  those  who  served  the  persecuting 
prince. I  Schafifhausen  and  Zurich,  in  like  manner,  refused 
levies  of  troops  for  France,  alleging  that  the  war  against 
Holland  was  directed  against  the  Protestants. 

The  renewal  of  the  persecutions,  which  announced  the  ap- 
proaching revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  the  increas- 
ing number  of  new  refugees  who  came  to  seek  an  asylum  upon 
the  Helvetic  soil,  filled  all  hearts  with  compassion  for  the 
victims,  and  with  indignation  toward  the  executioners.  In 
1672,  the  conference  of  the  deputies  from  the  Protestant 
cantons  at  Baden,  prescribed  public  prayers  for  both  the 
Protestants  of  France  and  those  of  Holland.      In  1681,  the 

*  Yerdei],  History  of  the  Canton  du  Yaud,  vol.  ii.  p  262. 
f  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  263.       X  I^''<1-  P-  285. 


160  FREXCH  PROTESTAXT  REFUGEES. 

government  of  Berne  again  ordered  all  the  ministers  to  pray 
to  God  in  favor  of  their  oppressed  brethren.      In  1682,  and 
1683,  the  magistrates  deliberated  many  times  npon  the  fitness 
of  addressing  expostulations  to  Louis  XIV.,  but  they  feared 
to  irritate  his  pride,  and  contented  themselves  with  sending 
a  pastor  to  France  to  render  them  a  faithful  account  of  the 
actual  state  of  the  Protestants  in  that  kingdom.      In  1 684, 
the  diet  of  Aran,  at  which  the  representatives  of  Zurich, 
Bale,  Berne  and  Schaff  hausen  assisted,  received  the  touching 
complaints  of  the  preachers  who  had  fled  from  their  native 
land  after  the  demolition  of  a  multitude  of  temples  in  all  the 
provinces.     Those  victims  of  fanaticism  came  to  supplicate 
the  Protestant  cantons  to  intercede  for  them  with  the  King, 
as  if  the  remonstrances  of  so  feeble  a  neighbor  could  have 
modified  the  will  of  the  most  powerful  and  most  absolute 
prince  who  reigned  in  Europe.*     They  resolved,  at  least,  in 
spite  of  the  formidable  illusion  which  enveloped  the  name  of 
Louis  XI Y.,  to  receive  the  fugitives,  and  to  unite  themselves 
to  William  of  Orange,  by  a  treaty  offensive  and  defensive, 
rather  than  ever  to  refuse  to  protect  their  exiled  brethren. 
The  inhabitants  of  Gex  and  Bresse,  almost  all  of  whom  had 
belonged  to  the  reformed  religion  during  more  than  a  centurv, 
were  the  first  who  retired  to  the  Genevese  territory,  at  the 
period  of  the  great  emigration.     Having  been  successively 
despoiled  of  almost  all  their  rights,  in  contempt  of  the  stipu- 
lations of  the  treaty  which  united  them  to  France,  seeing  the 
public  exercise  of  their  religion  forbidden  throughout  the 
whole  extent  of  their  country,  and  fearing  that  they  would 
soon  experience  treatment  still  more  cruel,  they  suddenly 
took  fright  at  the  approach  of  the  dragoons,  commanded  to 
prepare  them  to  become  converted,  abandoned  their  homes 
and  arrived  in  a  mass  at  Geneva,  on  the  21st  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1685,  with  their  furniture  and  other  most  valuable 

*  Protestant  Recess  of  the  four  cantons  of  Berne,  Zurich,  Schaff- 
hausen  and  Bale.     Archives  of  Berne,  vear  1G84. 


GREMA, 


161 


effects   whicli  they  had  carried   away  on  wagons.*      Some 
days    afterward   two  young  men   secretly   returned  to   the 
village  of  Feigeres,  and  set  fire  to  their  house,  which  with 
three  others  was  consumed.     But  a  troop  of  horse  was  soon 
stationed  in  the  bailiwick  to  guard  the  houses  of  those  whom 
they  styled  criminal  deserters. f     Among  those  fugitives  was 
Grema,  a  man  of  great  capacity  and  surprising  activity,  who 
allied   himself  to    one  of  the  first  families  of  Geneva  by 
his  marriage  with  Francoise  Fatio.     But  having  no  hope  of 
being   able  in  that  city  to   re-establish  his  fortune,  which 
he  had  sacrificed  to  his  religion,  he  departed  for  Branden- 
burgh,  was  appointed  councillor  of  the  court  and  ambassador, 
and  sent  back  to  Switzerland  with  the  mission  to  persuade 
the  reformed  who  had  retired  thither  upon  their  flight  from 
France,  and  who  found  themselves  too  numerous  to  abide 
there  definitively,  to  pass  over  into  the  states  of  the  Elector. 
In  fact,  at  the  end  of  a  few  weeks,  the  emigrants  flocked  in 
not   only   from  Gex   and  Bresse,  but   from  Dauphiny  and 
Languedoc,  and  afterward  from  all  the  provinces  in  the  king- 
dom successively.     Contemporary  testimony  informs  us  that 
as  early  as  1685  they  arrived  every  day  by  hundreds.      We 
read  under  the  date  of  that  year  in  the  manuscript  compiled 
by  Jacques  Flournoy  ;  "  Every  day  there  continue  to  arrive 
a  great  many  of  these  poor  people,  and  their  number  already 
exceeds  many  thousands.     Among  others,  numerous  French 
ministers  have  passed  through,  and  although  they  remain  but 
a  few  days  in  the  city,  more  than  fifty  of  them  may  be  seen 
at  a  time.     The  French  fund  is  drained.      On  the  9th  of 
November,  two  hundred  and  twenty-eight,  from  the  Pays  de 

*  Manuscript  History  of  Geneva,  by  M.  Gantier,  vol.  xi.  p.  238. 

Manuscripts  of  the  Library  of  Geneva. — Erman  and  Reclam,  vol.  iii. 

p.  58-61. — Burnet's  History  of  his  own  time,  vol.  iii.  p.  127.  Oxford 
edition,  1833. 

f  Manuscript  compiled  by  Jacques  Flournoy,  year  1685,  jN'ovember 
28th  and  December  6th. 


162  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

G-ex  alone  were  relieved.  By  the  15tli  of  November,  a 
thousand  from  that  single  country  had  already  received 
assistance." 

The  French  fund,  instituted  in  1545,  by  David  de  Busan- 
ton,  who  bequeathed  one  half  of  his  fortune  to  the  general 
hospital,  and  the  other  to  the  French  Protestant  refugees  and 
their  descendants,  had  not  ceased  enriching  itself  during  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  through  the  generosity 
of  a  crowd  of  donors,  eager  thus  to  show  their  gratitude  for 
the  benefits  they  had  received.  Geneva  was  then  able  to 
aid  the  fugitive  religionists,  whose  number  increased  without 
cessation,  but  most  of  whom  only  passed  through  t'he  city 
to  distribute  themselves  in  the  cantons  of  Switzerland,  or  to 
direct  their  steps  toward  Holland,  Brandenburgh,  and  Eng- 
land. It  was,  above  all,  in  1687,  that  the  tide  of  emigration 
flowed  toward  the  city  of  Calvin.  We  may  judge  of  its 
amount  by  this  passage  from  Flournoy,  under  the  date  of 
May  25th  of  that  year  : 

"  Every  day  a  surprising  number  of  Frenchmen  arrive, 
who  have  fled  from  the  kingdom  for  religion's  sake.  It  has 
been  remarked  that  hardly  a  week  passes,  that  as  many  as 
three  hundred  do  not  come,  and  this  has  continued  since  the 
end  of  the  winter.  Some  days  as  many  as  a  hundred  and 
twenty  reach  here  in  numerous  bands.  Most  of  them  are 
young  tradesmen  ;  but  there  are  also  some  people  of  quality." 
And  farther  on,  he  adds  :  "  During  all  this  time  pass  through 
the  city  a  surprising  number  of  poor  French  refugees,  who 
enter  by  the  New  Gate,  and  leave  by  the  lake.  Most  of 
them  are  from  Dauphiny.  As  many  as  three  hundred  and 
fifty  arrive  every  day;  on  the  16th,  17th,  and  18th  of  Au- 
gust, eight  hundred  in  all  entered  the  city.  The  French 
fund  is  entirely  exhausted.  Its  capital,  two  years  ago,  was 
more  than  eight  thousand  crowns,  but  it  has  no  longer  any 
thing,  notwithstanding  the  very  considerable  charities  it  has 
received.     On  the  1 5th  of  August,  fifteen  hundred  francs  were 


FRENCH    FUND.  163 

distributed.  During  all  this  year,  it  has  distributed  five 
hundred  crowns  monthly.  Half  a  crown  was  given  to  each 
refugee,  of  whatever  age  or  sex.  The  council  gave  five  hun- 
dred crowns  to  the  fund,  the  churches  of  the  country  as 
much  more,  and  the  hospital  the  same,  beside  taking  charge 
of  all  the  sick.  The  revenue  of  all  the  Thursday  charity 
boxes  was  granted  them  throughout  that  year.  The  Italian 
fund  also  gave  five  hundred  crowns.  The  public,  in  their 
turn,  furnished  the  boat  for  transporting  the  refugees  to 
Switzerland,  which  amounted  to  about  a  thousand  crowns 
for  the  year.  On  such  a  day  there  arrived  from  seven  to 
eight  hundred  refugees.  It  is  said,  that  in  the  five  weeks 
which  ended  on  the  1st  of  September,  nearly  eight  thousand 
of  them  entered  the  city ;  so  that,  although  they  left  every 
day  by  the  lake,  there  were  ordinarily  about  three  thousand 
of  them  in  Geneva.   .   ." 

The  official  registers  of  the  council  confirm  and  complete 
the  testimony  of  Flournoy.  Here  are  the  most  significant 
passages  which  relate  to  that  year : 

"  4th  of  March,  1687.  Crowds  of  these  foreigners  are 
seen  in  the  public  places.  M.,  the  Resident,  has  testified 
surprise  at  it. 

"  24th  of  May.  The  almoner  of  the  Resident  says  that  in 
the  few  past  days,  from  twelve  to  thirteen  hundred  persons 
have  arrived  in  this  city  from  the  Pays  de  G-ex. 

"31st  of  August.  The  list  of  the  Recorder  of  Neufve 
of  the  refugees  who  arrived  yesterday,  amounts  to  about 
eight  hundred  persons.  ...  It  has  been  deliberated  in  what 
manner  we  must  proceed  to  forward  them  on  their  way. 
The  hospital  has  been  ordered  to  prepare  sheds  to  shelter 
those  who  arrive,  and  accommodate  them  in  the  best  way 
possible. 

"  26th  of  September.  During  the  past  week  eleven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  refugees  arrived,  and  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  returned  to  Switzerland. 


164  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

"  3 1st  of  October.  The  Syndic  of  La  Garde  has  reported 
that  the  number  of  about  eight  hundred  and  fifty  refugees 
arrived  here  during  the  past  week." 

On  the  24th  of  November,  a  solemn  fast  was  celebrated, 
and,  to  hinder  embarrassment  and  confusion  in  the  temples, 
the  council  ordered  that  they  should  preach  at  the  Auditory 
for  the  refugees  alone.  All  the  garrison  was  this  day  under 
arms  for  the  guard  and  safety  of  the  city,  and  soldiers  were 
placed  at  the  doors  of  the  Auditory,  to  allow  no  one  to  enter 
but  the  exiled  Frenchmen.  The  vast  hall  could  not  contain 
them,  and,  in  the  mean  while,  all  the  other  temples  were  ex- 
traordinarily filled.*  The  crowd,  at  that  moment,  was  so 
great,  that,  in  the  populous  quarter  of  Saint-Gervais,  more 
refugee  than  Genevese  families  could  be  counted,  although 
more  than  twenty-eight  thousand  persons  had  already  passed 
through  the  city  to  seek  elsewhere  for  new  asylums.  When 
the  French  prisons  were  thrown  open  in  the  months  of  March 
and  April,  1688,  and  a  crowd  of  captives  were  set  at  liberty, 
many  of  them  arrived  at  Geneva,  having  been  escorted  as 
far  as  the  frontier  by  archers  or  yeomen,  who,  upon  leaving 
them,  read  them  their  sentence  of  eternal  banishment  from 
the  kingdom.  Numerous  Protestants  of  illustrious  birth 
thus  emerged  from  the  dungeons  of  Grenoble,  Lyons,  Dijon, 
Chalons,  Valence,  and  Castres.  The  expenses  of  their  jour- 
ney being  paid,  and  themselves  conducted  as  far  as  the 
boundary  of  the  Geuevese  territory,  they  received  a  few 
pistoles — feeble  indemnity  for  their  confiscated  property,  f 
From  time  to  time,  also,  voluntary  refugees  still  fled  the 
country.  On  the  18th  of  April,  1688,  the  people  crowded, 
with  the  most  lively  marks  of  sympathy,  around  a  captain, 
accompanied  by  a  lieutenant  and  forty-two  soldiers.  Almost 
all  of  them  natives  of  Puy-Laurens,  they  had  come  as  far  as 

*  Flournoy,  year  168Y,   passim.     Register  of  the  Council  of  Ge- 
neva, November  22,  1687. 
f  Flournoy,  year  1688. 


THE    FRENCH    AMBASSADOR.  165 

Lyons  on  allowance,  and  from  thence  had  succeeded  in  gain- 
ing the  Genevese  soil.  * 

The  tide  of  emigration  was  no  less  considerable  at  Bale, 
Schaif  hausen,  Zurich,  Berne,  and  Lausanne.  "  The  fugitive 
religionists  continue  to  arrive  in  crowds  at  Zurich,"  wrote  the 
French  ambassador  two  months  after  the  revocation.  "  I  have 
found  many  of  them  on  the  road  from  Bale  to  Soleure."t 
He  added,  to  please  Louis  XIY.,  "  A  short  time  will  cause 
a  change  in  the  zeal  of  these  charitable  hosts,  on  account  of 
the  expense,  which  is  increased  in  proportion  to  the  eagerness 
with  which  they  give  an  asylum  to  those  who  ask  it  from 
them."  J  "  They  are  only  the  canaille,"  said  he,  in  continua- 
tion, "  all  the  people  of  consideration  only  pass  through  here 
on  their  route  to  G-ermany.^ 

The  following  month,  he  informed  the  Court  that  the 
treasury  clerk,  who  brought  the  funds  destined  for  the  em- 
bassy from  Neufchatel  to  Soleure,  had  found  the  roads  filled 
with  French  subjects,  who  were  directing  their  steps  toward 
Berne  and  Zurich.  ||  A  third  dispatch  informed  Louis  XIV. 
that  wagons  entirely  filled  with  fugitives  were  seen  every  day 
passing  through  the  streets  of  Bale.T 

A  great  number  of  these  exiles  took  their  way  through 
preference  toward  the  Pays  du  Vaud,  a  French  province  as 
far  as  the  language  and  neighborhood  of  France  was  con- 
cerned, whether  to  definitively  fix  their  abode  there,  or  in 
order  not  to  be  too  far  distant  from  their  former  country, 
from  which  they  still  did  not  believe  themselves  to  be  for 
ever  separated.  In  a  single  day  more  than  two  thousand  of 
them  were  counted  in  the  single  city  of  Lausanne.*  *    Every 

*  Flournoy,  year  1688. 

f  Dispatch  of  Tambonneau,  Soleure,  15tli  Dee.  1685.  Archives  of 
the  ]\Iinister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

X  Ibid.  §  Ibid.  []  Dispatch  of  Jan.  5, 1686. 

Tf  Dispatch  of  February  2, 1686. 

*  *  Verdeil.     History  of  the  Canton  du  Vaud,  vol.  ii.  p.  311. 


166  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

one  was  emulous  to  aid  them.  Councillors,  burghers,  and 
foreigners,  all  received  them  eagerly,  and  threw  open  their 
houses  to  them.*  But  every  day  new  fugitives  arrived, 
often  sick  and  with  no  resources.  The  funds  allowed  by  the 
council  of  the  city,  and  increased  by  the  charity  of  the 
citizens,  were  soon  exhausted.  To  succor  these  unfortu- 
nate wretches,  an  appeal  was  made  to  the  religious  zeal  of 
the  Waldenses.  The  pastors  preached  in  their  favor ;  they 
organized  collections;  the  former  bishop's  palace  was 
transformed  into  a  hospital  for  all  those  who  could  not  find 
shelter  in  the  houses  of  the  citizens ;  two  hundred  pounds 
of  bread  and  firewood  were  distributed  to  them  daily ;  boxes 
were  placed  every  Friday  at  the  doors  of  the  churches  of 
Saint  Francis  and  of  the  city,  to  receive  the  sums  which 
the  compassion  of  the  faithful  designed  for  them.  A  general 
assembly  of  the  refugees  was  convoked  at  Lausanne,  to  con- 
sider upon  the  means  of  relieving  the  increasing  wants  of  so 
many  thousand  exiles.  It  adopted  the  suggestion  of  the 
pastor  Barbeyrac,  and  sent  a  deputation  into  Germany  and 
Holland  to  ask  for  aid.  Bernard,  the  former  pastor  of 
Manosque  in  Provence,  and  the  Marquis  de  Miremont,  a 
nobleman  of  Languedoc,  were  intrusted  with  this  mission,  in 
1688.  They  succeeded  fully.  The  money  they  brought 
back  was  distributed  among  the  poorest,  the  most  of  whom 
repaired  to  Prussia  and  the  other  Protestant  states  in  the 
north  of  Germany,  where  uncultivated  lands  were  given 
them,  which  they  cleared,  and  houses  in  which  they  exer- 
cised lucrative  professions.  Those  who  remained  were  placed 
under  the  protection  of  the  Canton  of  Berne,  of  which  the 
Pays  du  Vaud  was  a  dependency.! 

The  German  subjects  of  that  canton,  even  those  of  the 
capital,  did  not  always  exercise  in  behalf  of  the  refugees  that 
generous  hospitality  of  which  the  Waldense  population  had 

*  Verdeil.    History  of  the  Canton  du  Vaud,  vol.ii.  p.  311. 
t  Verdeil,  vol.  ii.  pp.  812-315. 


SWISS    CHARITIES.  167 

given  the  touching  example.  The  government  was  obliged 
to  publish  a  proclamation  recommending  them  to  public  benefi- 
cence. "  The  gentlemen  of  Berne,"  wrote  Tambonneau,  "  have 
issued  a  command,  which  is  not  exactly  an  express  order,  but 
a  very  pressing  exhortation,  to  all  the  bailiwicks  in  their 
state,  to  oblige  all  their  peasantry  not  only  to  contribute  by 
alms  to  the  subsistence  of  the  refugees,  but  even  to  take 
them  to  their  houses,  to  nourish  them,  and  to  give  them  all 
the  aid  of  which  they  are  capable."*  The  members  of  the 
two  councils  received  a  special  invitation  to  succor  the  most 
needy,  in  order  to  give  an  impulse  of  charity  to  the  public. 
In  most  of  the  G-erman  communities  the  people  continued  to 
exhibit  no  less  coldness  toward  them.  Even  at  Berne, 
where  the  magistrates  gave  them  billets  upon  their  arrival, 
the  guards  of  the  gates  were  obliged  to  accompany  them, 
halberd  in  hand,  to  compel  them  to  open  the  doors  of 
the  houses  which  were  for  the  moment  assigned  them  for 
abodes.  But  the  government  watched  with  noble  solicitude 
over  the  maintenance  of  the  poorest.  It  distributed  two 
batzf  a  day  to  the  men  over  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  six 
kreutzers  to  the  women  and  children,  and  one  batz  to  those 
who  had  not  attained  the  age  of  five  years.  They  sent  them 
food  besides,  and  paid  their  expenses  in  all  the  inns,  with  the 
exception  of  the  two  best.  The  Protestant  cantons  formed  a 
fund  to  facilitate  the  departure  of  those  whom  Switzerland 
could  not  support.  In  the  interval  between  the  month  of 
November,  1683,  and  the  month  of  February,  1688,  fifteen 
thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety- one  persons,  entirely  desti- 
tute of  resources,  were  thus  sent  from  Schafi"hausen  into 
Germany,  at  the  expense  of  the  Protestant  league.  In  the 
mean  time  the  refugees  continued  to  flock  into  Berne,  not  only 
on  the  western  frontier  but  also  on  the  northern.     Those  who 

*  Dispatch  of  Tambonneau,  Soleure,  January  5th,  1686. 
I  In  the  Canton  of  Berne  a  batz  is  equal  to  two  sous,  and  there  are 
four  kreutzers  in  one  batz. — Translator's  note. 


168  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

had  been  so  lately  transported  into  the  German  States, 
returned  to  Switzerland  on  the  approach  of  the  armies 
of  Louis  XIV.,  when  the  war  was  rekindled  between  France 
and  Europe  in  coalition  against  her.  The  Bernese  govern- 
ment was  obliged  to  apply  to  the  Austrian  ambassador,  who 
consented  to  furnish  passports,  in  order  to  facilitate  the 
passage  of  these  unfortunate  wretches  across  the  provinces  of 
that  empire,  to  the  frontiers  of  Brandenburgh  and  Holland. 
In  1689  it  had  recourse  to  a  cruel  measure  to  disembarrass 
the  canton  of  a  burden  which  had  become  too  onerous.  It 
ordered  all  those  who  were  without  resources  to  leave 
the  country,  declaring  that  it  would  protect  none  but  the 
aged  and  infirm.*  But  that  order  was  not  executed.  D'Her- 
wart  and  Walkenaer,  the  ambassadors  of  France  and  England, 
interceded  in  their  favor,  declaring  that  their  governments 
would  charge  themselves  with  all  the  necessitous  refugees 
who  might  exceed  the  number  of  four  thousand  men.  The 
five  cantons  engaged  to  assist  in  the  maintenance  of  the 
others.  They  only  sent  away  a  small  number  of  them ;  still 
they  paid  the  expenses  of  their  journey,  and  Berne  excused 
herself  to  the  Protestant  powers,  so  as  not  to  be  taxed  with 
indifi"erence  to  a  cause  in  which  the  religion  was  interested.! 
In  1698,  the  new  French  ambassador,  Puisieulx,  and  the 
ambassador  of  the  Emperor,  delivered  the  canton  from  the 
poorer  portion  of  the  emigration.  They  furnished  passports 
to  many  hundreds  of  the  fugitives,  and  particularly  to  those 
whom  the  Duke  of  Savoy  had  driven  from  Piedmont  at  the 
epoch  of  the  Treaty  of  Ryswick,  when  he  wished  to  seal  his 
reconciliation  with  Louis  XIY.  by  an  act  of  intolerance. 
These  victims  of  a  double  persecution  embarked  upon  the 
Rhine,  and  descended  that  river  to  the  hospitable  shores  of 
Hesse  and  the  Palatinate,  the  sovereigns  of  which  were  eager 

*  History   of  the  Republic   of  Berne,  by  Antoine  de  Tillier,  vol. 
iv.  pp.  298-301.     Berne,  1839. 
t  Ibid.  pp.  336  337. 


SIEUR    DE    PASSY.  169 

to  receive  them.  The  state  of  Berne  thus  found  itself 
lightened  of  its  burden  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century ;  for,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  aged  persons  who 
were  supported  by  alms,  it  had  only  retained  men  capable  of 
making  themselves  useful  to  their  new  country.* 

The  French  government,  which  condemned  its  Protestant 
subjects  to  the  galleys  when  they  endeavored  to  escape 
from  their  executioners,  always-  viewed  with  uneasiness  and 
disquiet  the  reception  which  the  fugitives  received  upon  the 
Helvetic  soil.  From  Greneva  and  Lausanne  they  could  corre- 
spond with  facility  with  the  new  converts  of  the  provinces  of 
Burgundy,  Dauphiny  and  Languedoc;  they  could  excite  them 
to  fly  from  the  kingdom,  and  facilitate  to  them  the  means  of 
escape.  Louis  XIV.,  also,  did  not  allow  them  to  enjoy 
in  tranquillity  the  hospitality  which  was  extended  to  them. 
The  inflexible  severity  of  the  monarch  followed  them,  prin- 
cipally into  the  Genevese  territory,  where  they  excited 
such  ardent  sympathy.  That  French  and  reformed  corner 
of  the  earth,  whose  independence  was  but  slightly  guaranteed 
by  treaties,  had  been  compelled,  in  1679,  to  receive  a  French 
Resident,  M.  de  Chauvigny,  who  was  charged  to  watch  the 
little  republic,  and  impose  upon  it  the  haughty  will  of 
the  great  King.  When,  in  1685,  the  inhabitants  of  Gex 
flocked  thither  in  crowds  to  escape  the  troops  who  were 
ordered  to  convert  them,  the  Sieur  de  Passy,  governor  of  that 
bailiwick,  complained  to  the  first  syndic  that  an  asylum  was 
given  to  rebels.  Without  even  referring  it  to  his  government, 
he  took  upon  himself  to  have  recourse  to  reprisals  by  inter- 
dicting the  exportation  of  wheat,  and  other  commodities 
which  Geneva  derived  from  that  part  of  the  French  territory. 
He  included  in  that  prohibition  even  the  products  of  the 
lands  which  belonged  to  Genevese  proprietors.  All  represen- 
tations which  were  addressed  to  him  were  of  no  avail.     A 

*  History  of  the  Republic  of  Berne,  by  Antoine  de  Tillier,  vol.  iv. 
p.  365.     Berne,  1839. 

VOL.  II — 8 


170       *   FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

deputation  which  was  sent  to  Dijon  to  solicit  the  intervention 
of  Harlay,  the  Intendant  of  Burgundy,  met  with  no  better 
success.  The  Intendant  contented  himself  with  declaring 
that  he  would  inform  the  Court  of  the  complaints  of  the 
Grenevese,  and  would  wait  its  orders.  It  was  the  new  Resi- 
dent of  France,  Dupre,  who  made  known  to  the  magistrates 
of  that  city  the  reply  of  Louis  XIV.  It  was  arrogant  and 
threatening : 

"  Being  adyised  that  there  are  many  of  my  subjects  of 
the  pretended  reformed  religion,  who,  contrary  to  the  gen 
eral  prohibition  I  have  made  against  leaving  my  states  with- 
out my  permission,  retire  to  Geneva,  and  are  there  received 
by  the  magistrates ;  I  write  you  this  letter,  to  inform  you 
that  it  is  my  wish  that  you  should  make  pressing  commands 
on  my  part  to  those  who  govern  in  the  said  city,  that  they 
instantly  oblige  all  of  my  said  subjects  who  have  retired 
thither  within  a  year,  to  depart,  and  return  to  their  homes. 
And  you  will  declare  to  the  said  magistrates,  that  I  cannot 
permit  them  to  continue  giving  an  asylum  to  any  of  my  sub- 
jects who  still  wish  to  leave  my  kingdom  without  my  per- 
mission. You  will  not  fail  to  let  me  know  the  resolution 
they  may  have  taken  upon  your  demands,  in  order  that  I 
may  regulate  my  own  according  to  their  compliance  with 
that  which  I  desire  from  them." 

Such  a  declaration  did  not  permit  the  magistrates  of 
Geneva  to  hesitate  upon  the  line  of  conduct  they  had  to 
pursue  with  regard  to  the  refugees.  In  spite  of  their  com- 
passion for  those  unfortunate  wretches,  they  published  by 
the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  not  only  in  the  city,  but  also  in 
the  lands  of  the  sovereignty,  a  formal  order  to  all  the  French- 
men who  had  expatriated  themselves  within  a  year,  to  de- 
part immediately  from  Geneva  and  the  Genevese  territory. 
This  compliance  pleased  the  French  Resident ;  but  he  soon 
perceived  that  they  evaded  the  execution  of  the  order  they 
had  given.      The  King,  little  satisfied  with   the  measures 


COLBERT   DE    CROISSY.  171 

which  had  been  taken  by  the  government  of  the  republic, 
wrote  a  still  more  haughty  letter  : 

"  My  will,"  he  wrote  to  his  envoy,  "  is,  that  you  proclaim 
a  second  time  to  the  magistrates,  that  if  they  do  not  oblige 
all  those  of  my  subjects  of  the  pretended  reformed  religion, 
who  have  retired  since  the  commencement  of  that  year  into 
their  city,  to  instantly  return  to  the  places  where  they  lived 
before.  ...  I  will  soon  take  resolutions  which  will  make 
them  repent  having  displeased  me,  and  given  me  such  just 
cause  for  discontent  with  their  conduct."  * 

The  monarch  added  that  he  approved  of  the  prohibition 
of  the  Sieur  de  Passy,  with  regard  to  allowing  the  wheat, 
and  other  commodities  which  belonged  to  the  G-enevese,  to 
go  out  of  the  Pays  du  Gex.  This  language,  and  the  coercive 
measures  which  accompanied  it,  would  doubtless  have  fright- 
ened a  more  powerful  state  than  the  city  of  Calvin.  The 
little  republic  was  dismayed.  It  reiterated  its  orders  to  the 
refugees  to  depart  from  the  city  and  territory,  and  particu- 
larly from  the  circuit  of  Peney,  which  had  served  as  an 
asylum  for  most  of  those  from  Gex.  It  enjoined  the  inhabit- 
ants, on  pain  of  corporal  chastisement,  to  send  away  on  the 
instant  all  the  King's  subjects  whom  they  had  concealed  in 
their  dwellings.  It  caused  the  boats,  in  which  many  of  the 
emigrants  had  escaped  from  the  kingdom,  to  be  removed 
from  the  Rhone.  The  ministers  who  were  accused  of  keep- 
ing up  seditious  intelligences  with  the  subjects  of  Louis 
XIV.  were  expelled,  f  Then  only  the  Resident  received 
advices  from  Colbert  de  Croissy  that  the  King  had  ordered 

*  These  two  letters  of  Louis  XIY.,  countersigned  by  Colbert  de 
Croissy,  are  found  in  substance  in  the  register  of  the  council,  and  in 
copy,  No.  37*7 6,  of  the  historical  documents  in  the  archives  of  Geneva. 
The  first  is  dated  the  I7th,  and  the  second,  the  23d  of  October, 

1685. 

f  Manuscript  History  of  Geneva,  by  Gautier,  vol.  xi.  pp.  238-288. 
Manuscripts  of  the  Library  of  Geneva. 


172  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

Passy  to  take  off  the  interdict  from  commerce,  and  to  re- 
sume amicable  relations  with  the  republic.  * 

In  the  mean  time,  the  magistrates  of  Genera,  wounded  in 
their  dearest  affections,  advised  those  of  Berne  and  Zurich 
of  the  humiliations  they  had  undergone.  They  sent  for 
workmen  from  German  Switzerland  to  work  at  the  fortifica- 
tions, and  particularly  to  construct  the  curtain  walls  which 
were  to  join  the  four  new  bastions,  the  plan  of  which  had 
been  traced  by  the  Baron  d'Yvoi.  They  wrote  to  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  begging  him  to  lend  them  that  skilful 
engineer,  who  had  just  entered  the  service  of  Holland. 
Being  informed  of  the  dangers  which  menaced  the  cradle 
of  the  French  reform,  Yvoi  had  already,  of  his  own 
accord,  sent  a  message  offering  his  advice.  He  did  more  ; 
he  came  himself,  in  1686,  accompanied  by  his  young 
son,  Captain  Mallet,  Lieutenant  Cassin,  and  a  fugitive 
captain  of  Orange.  It  was  a  great  subject  of  joy  for 
all  the  Genevese,  when  they  saw  him  slowly  traversing 
the  streets  in  a  carriage  drawn  by  six  horses,  and  when  the 
magistrates  came  solemnly  to  meet  him,  at  the  risk  of  the 
displeasure  of  the  Resident,  whose  presence  should  have  re- 
pressed the  impulse  of  their  hearts,  f  After  his  departure, 
they  again  wrote  to  the  Stadtholder,  asking  him  for  Goulon. 
But,  at  that  time,  William  was  not  willing  to  separate  him- 
self from  a  man  whose  experience  was  so  necessary  to  the 
success  of  his  approaching  expedition.  ''  The  Prince  of 
Orange,"  the  celebrated  engineer  wrote  to  them,  "  does  not 
think  proper  to  grant  me  leave  of  absence  in  a  conjuncture 
like  this,  when  every  thing  appears  to  tend  toward  some 
great  movement. "J     But,  while  he  was  not  able  to  come  in 

*  Manuscript  History  of  Geneva,  by  Gautier,  vol.  xi.  p.  240. 
Manuscripts  of  the  Librarj^  of  Geneva. 

f  riournoy,  year  1686. 

X  This  letter,  dated  from  the  Hague,  may  be  found  in  the 
Archives  of  Geneva.     Historical  Documents,  No.  8833. 


DESIGNS    OF    LOUIS   XIV,  173 

person,  he  caused  a  plan  of  Geneva,  and  tlie  mountains 
which  command  that  place,  to  be  drawn  up,  promising  to 
send  it  back  to  them  with  his  observations.  At  the  same 
time,  recourse  was  had  to  loans,  to  increased  taxation,  which 
the  people  submitted  to  without  a  murmur,  and  to  voluntary 
subscriptions,  which  amounted  to  ninety  thousand  crowns.  * 
All  the  citizens  were  armed  with  muskets  of  the  same  calibre, 
and  invited  to  join  in  the  defence  of  their  native  city.f 
The  companies  of  the  garrison  were  each  increased  by  ten 
men  drafted  from  the  burgher  companies,  who  mounted 
guard  with  the  others  day  and  night. |«  At  the  approach 
of  the  French  troops,  charged  to  aid  the  Duke  of  Savoy 
against  his  subjects  of  the  valleys  of  Lucerne,  the  alarm 
spread  to  the  Protestant  cantons  themselves.  There  was 
no  talk  but  of  the  designs  attributed  to  the  King  of 
France  of  wishing  to  reinstate  by  force  the  Bishops  of  Bale, 
Geneva,  and  Lausanne.  ^  It  was  supposed  that  he  would 
commence  with  Geneva,  and  that  he  would  there  re-establish 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion  by  violence.  Berne  and  Zurich 
testified  the  greatest  disquiet,  and  agitated  the  question  of 
sending  a  garrison  into  the  threatened  city.  The  King 
wrote  upon  this  subject  to  his  ambassador  in  Switzerland. 

"  The  inhabitants  of  Geneva  will  have  no  need  of  the  as- 
sistance of  their  neighbors,  so  long  as  they  conduct  them- 
selves as  wisely  as  they  have  done,  since  I  declared  to  them 
that  I  would  not  f^iiffer  them  to  give  an  asylum  to  my 
subjects.  "II 

These  haughty  words  reassured  nobody.  In  1686,  the 
deputies  of  the  cantons  of  Berne,  Zurich,  Bale  and  Schaff- 
hausen,  met  in  conference  at  Zurich,  declared  to  the  envoys 

*  Gautier,  p.  254. 

f  Register  of  the  council,  December  18,  1685. 

X  Gautier,  p.  241. 

§   Dispatch  of  Tambonneau,  Feb.  2d,  1686. 

I  This  letter  is  dated  Versailles,  December  21st,  1685. 


174  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

from  Geneva,  Pictet  and  La  Rive,  that  they  were  disposed 
to  risk  all  for  all  in  the  sacred  interest  of  the  "religion." 
They  engaged  to  aid  the  city,  in  case  of  attack,  with  an  army 
of  thirty  thousand  men,  capable  of  holding  head  against  the 
thirty  thousand  men,  which  the  French  government  had  con- 
centrated in  Dauphiny,  In  the  mean  time  they  proposed  to 
send  an  auxiliary  body  of  five  hundred  men  who  should  come, 
with  drums  beating  and  colors  flying,  to  take  possession  of 
the  posts  which  might  be  assigned  them.  This  premature 
offer  was  not  accepted,  but  a  treaty  of  alliance  was  concluded, 
and  Geneva,  placed  under  the  protection  of  Protestant 
Switzerland,  could  thenceforth  follow  the  inspirations  of 
Christian  Charity,  and  relieve  her  persecuted  brethren. 
The  magistrates,  however,  neglected  none  of  the  precautions 
which  were  necessary  for  her  defence.  They  agreed,  with  the 
Bailiff  of  Nyon,  upon  signals,  which  were  established  to  let 
the  people  of  Berne  know  that  they  must  immediately  send 
the  promised  relief  in  case  of  alarm.* 

From  that  period  the  Genevese  government  pursued  a  line 
of  conduct  toward  the  refugees,  which  testified  at  the  same 
time  its  profound  sympathy  for  them,  and  its  fear  of  provok- 
ing too  openly  the  resentment  of  Louis  XIV.  While  renew- 
ing its  former  prohibitions  to  the  subjects  of  the  great  king 
with  regard  to  their  remaining  in  the  city,  and  while  some- 
times sending  the  tithing  men  from  house  to  house  to  compel 
them  to  withdraw,  it  always  showed  extreme  indulgence  to 
those  citizens  who  transgressed  its  orders  and  persisted 
in  retaining  their  exiled  brethren.!  In  vain  did  the  French 
Resident  express  his  surprise  at  the  multitudes  of  these 
foreigners  in  the  public  places,  in  spite  of  the  publications 
which  were  printed  and  posted  up  in  the  streets,  by  the  care 
of  the  authorities.^     In  vain  did  Colbert  de  Croissy  transmit 

*  Gautier,  p.  254. 

f  Flournoy,  year  168Y. 

X  Register  of  the  Council,  March  4th,  1681. 


175 

tim  the  order  to  inform  the  magistrates  that  they  would  in- 
cur all  the  anger  of  the  king,  by  persisting  in  retaining  his 
subjects  of  the  pays  de  Gex,  under  the  pretext  that  they 
were  in  their  service.  The  magistrates  replied  by  evasive 
answers,  one  day  promising  to  conform  to  the  will  of  Louis 
XIV.,  as  soon  as  possible,  and  excusing  themselves  on  the 
morrow,  by  maintaining  that,  from  all  time,  the  bailiwick 
of  Gex  had  furnished  their  city  with  men  and  maid  servants, 
and  that  it  would  be  dijficult  to  procure  others  from  Savoy, 
where  the  curates  prohibited  the  inhabitants  from  going 
to  live  in  the  city  of  Calvin.*  Indignant  at  such  bad  faith, 
the  monarch  impatiently  exclaimed  one  day — "  It  becomes 
necessary  for  me  to  take  a  last  resolution  with  regard  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Geneva."t  But  he  never  executed  his  menaces. 
The  European  war,  which  was  imminent,  made  it  his  imperi- 
ous duty  to  spare  Switzerland,  whose  neutrality  protected 
the  frontiers  of  an  important  part  of  his  states.  When  he 
received  information  that  the  Elector  of  Brandenburgh  had 
sent  an  agent  named  Du  Boy,  to  Geneva,  with  the  mission  to 
promote  the  escape  of  the  religionists,  and  to  distribute  money 
among  them  for  the  purpose  of  persuading  them  to  repair  to 
the  north  of  Germany,  he  contented  himself  with  exacting  his 
expulsion.  I  When,  afterward,  the  Prince  of  Orange  notified 
the  republic  of  his  accession  to  the  throne  of  England,  the 
magistrates  did  not  fear  to  offer  him  public  felicitations.^ 
They  refused,  however,  to  receive  D'Herwart  Desmarets,  who 
was  appointed  by  the  new  king  to  fulfil  the  duties  of  British 
resident  in  their  city,  in  order  not  to  break  entirely  with  their 
formidable  neighbor.  || 

The  relatively  powerful  cantons  of  Berne  and  Zurich  had 

*  Flournoy,  year  1687. 

f  Gautier,  p.  27 2-27 3. 

jj.  Archives  of  Geneva,  Historical  documents,  No.  2,116. 

§  Gautier,  p.  876. 

I  Register  of  the  Council,  Sept.  10th  and  Nov.  6th,  1689,  and 
Jan.  10th,  1681. 


176  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

not  to  submit  to  those  imperative  injunctions,  on  the  part  of 
France,  which  had  terrified  Geneva.  Not  a  menacing  word 
was  addressed  to  them  on  the  subject  of  the  refugees,  not- 
withstanding their  proud  and  almost  hostile  attitude.  When 
a  poor  soldier  from  the  canton  of  Zurich,  who  had  been 
mutilated  in  the  French  service,  was  driven  from  the  "  In- 
valides"  because  he  did  not  belong  to  the  dominant  religion, 
all  his  fellow-citizens  resented  his  affront,  and  declared  upon 
the  spot  that  they  would  give  an  as3dum  to  three  thousand 
Huguenots.*  The  insult  offered  to  the  regiment  of  Erlach, 
which  was  obliged  to  assist  at  mass  and  in  all  the  other  cere- 
monials of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  no  less  irritated  the 
Eernese  government.  In  1686,  five  officers  of  Huningen, 
having  ventured  to  violate  the  neutral  territory  of  Switzer- 
land, by  pursuing  twelve  of  their  soldiers  whom  they  called 
deserters,  the  Avoyer  of  Erlach  caused  them  to  be  arrested 
in  the  streets  of  Berne,  and  sent  them  disarmed  to  the  town, 
where  they  were  in  garrison.  He  restored  their  arms  to  the 
French  ambassador,  advising  him,  that  in  case  of  repetition 
they  would  make  short  work  with  them.  The  people  of 
Berne  were  upon  the  point  of  massacring  them.f  Louis 
XIV.  exacted  no  reparation  for  that  offence.  The  Bernese 
Gazetteers  gave  loose  to  bitter  invectives  against  the  perse- 
cuting king,  and  Tambonneau  became  irritated  at  their 
increasing  insolence.  It  was  expressly  recommended  to  him 
to  despise  these  attacks,  and  not  to  make  remonstrances, 
which  could  have  no  result.J  Some  thousands  of  the 
refugees  having  presented  themselves  in  the  bailiwicks,  which 
were  common  to  both  religions,  and  which  were  designated 
by  the  name  of  the  free  provinces  ;  and  the  Pope's  nuncio 
having  claimed  the  intervention  of  the  French  ambassador 
to  forbid  an  establishment  so  contrary  to  the   Catholic  inte- 

*  Dispatch  of  Tambonneau,  Xov.  10th,  1685. 

f  Dispatch  of  same,  Jan.  9,  1686. 

X  Dispatch  of  Tambonneau,  Dec.  22d,  1685. 


BERNE    AND    ZURICH.  177 

rests,  the  king  replied  to  his  representative  that  he  did  not 
desire  him  to  make  useless  declarations.*  When  the  cantons 
of  Schwitz,  Uri,  Unterwald,  Zug  and  Lucerne,  terrified  at 
seeing  so  many  Protestants  fix  themselves  in  their  neighbor- 
hood, took  the  resolution  of  not  suflering  them  to  remain  in 
places  where  they  had  any  jurisdiction,  he  contented  liimself 
with  writing  to  Tambonneau  to  give  this  politic  line  of  con- 
duct his  entire  approbation.!  At  many  times  his  ambassador 
protested  to  the  magistrates  of  Berne  and  Zurich  his  pacific 
intentions  toward  the  Glenevese.  He  did  not  complain  of 
the  alliance  of  those  two  cantons  with  them.  When  the 
Stadtholder  of  Holland,  now  become  King  of  England,  sent 
the  Chevalier  Coxe  to  Switzerland,  to  propose  to  the  Prot- 
estant cantons  to  enter  into  the  European  league,  against 
France,  his  threats  hindered  Bale  from  acceding  to  the 
treaty  ;  but  Berne  and  Zurich,  and  with  them  Schaffhausen 
and  Saint  Gall,  signed  it  without  fear,  and  permitted  levies 
of  troops  for  the  coalition,  while  preserving  their  diplomatic 
relations,  and  some  appearance  of  amity  with  Louis  XIV. 
The  canton  of  Berne  alone  furnished  two  thousand  soldiers 
to  the  allies.  I  During  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
had  that  state  vainly  negotiated  to  obtain  the  incorporation 
of  the  Pays  du  Vaud  into  the  Helvetic  confederation,  and 
thus  to  place  its  own  private  conquest  under  the  common 
protection.  It  succeeded  finally,  in  1690,  and  the  numerous 
refugees  who  were  established  in  that  province,  assured 
thenceforth  of  the  armed  protection  of  the  whole  of  Switzer- 
land, found  themselves  definitively  sheltered  from  the  ven- 
geance of  their  former  sovereign.*^ 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  determine  the  number  of  the 
emigrants,  who  only  crossed  Switzerland  to  go  and  establish 
themselves  in  the  other  countries  of  refuge.     As  to  those, 

*  The  King's  reply  to  Tambonneau's  Dispatch,  Nov.  3d,  1685. 
f  Dispatch  of  Louis  XIV.  dated  Versailles,  Nov.  29th,  1685. 
X  Verdfcil,  vol.  ii.  p.  289.  §  Tillier,  vol.  iv.  p.  329. 

VOL.  II — 8"^- 


178  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

who  fixed  themselves  for  ever  at  Geneva,  Berne,  Zurich, 
Neufchatel,  Bale,  Schaffhausen,  and  Saint-G-all,  they  formed 
an  aggregate  of  about  twenty  thousand  men.  We  lack  exact 
data  with  regard  to  Neufchatel,  Bale,  Schaffhausen,  and 
Saint-Gall,  where  they  arrived  singly,  did  not  form  themselves 
into  colonies,  and  soon  became  merged  into  the  indigenous 
population.  But  documents  exist,  which  allow  us  to  state, 
with  sufficient  precision,  what  was  the  amount  of  the  emigra- 
tion to  Geneva,  Zurich,  Lausanne,  Berne,  and  the  other 
towns,  dependencies  of  that  canton. 

The  State  of  Berne,  the  most  extensive  and  the  richest 
of  all  Switzerland,  received  also  most  of  the  fugitives.  It 
results  from  a  census,  ordered  in  1696,  that  they  were  defin- 
itively fixed  at  the  number  of  6,104  men,  4,000  of  whom  were 
domiciled  in  the  pays  du  Vaud.  At  Berne,  were  counted 
1,117;  1,505  at  Lausanne,  775  at  Nyon,  696  at  Vevay,  214 
at  Yverduu,  231  at  Aigle,  716  at  Morges,  and  275  at  Mou- 
don.  The  others  were  distributed  among  the  towns  of 
Morat,  d'Avenche,  Payerne,  Eschalens,  Grandson,  Romain- 
Mottier,  and  Aran.*  About  4,000  gained  their  own  subsist- 
ence, and  were  no  charge  to  the  community.  The  2,000 
others  lived  either  upon  public  or  private  charity.  The  for- 
mer were  merchants,  manufacturers,  mechanics,  laborers,  and 
men  and  women-servants  ;  the  latter  were  ministers,  a  few 
gentlemen,  old  men,  widows,  children,  the  sick,  and  men  in- 
capable of  exercising  their  trades. f  Some  months  afterward, 
the  arrival  of  the  French,  who  were  driven  from  Piedmont, 
many  hundreds  of  whom  joined  themselves  to  the  Bernese 
colonies,  while  the  others  went  to   establish   themselves  in 

*  Archives  of  Berne.  Summary  of  the  census  of  the  refugees  in 
the  canton,  made  by  order  of  their  Excellencies,  in  the  months  of 
February  and  March,  1696.  Supplementary  document  to  the  Protes- 
tant recess  of  JN'ovember,  1696. 

t  Archives  of  Berne.  "  Eeflections  upon  the  present  state  of  the  re- 
fugees who  are  in  the  Canton  of  Berne,"  by  Hollard,  tlie  minister  of 
the  French  Church  of  that  city.     August  3d,  1696. 


REFUGEE    CHAMBER. 


179 


Germany,  raised  the  total  number  of  those  who  remained  in 
that  canton  to  6,454.* 

At  the  commencement,  the  refugees  who  were  settled  in 
the  Bernese  country,  sent  every  year  two  members  of  their 
body  to  the  diets,  where  sat  the  deputies  of  Berne,  Zurich, 
Bale,  and  Schaffhausen.  Those  assemblies  voted  the  sums, 
which  were  divided  among  them.  But  when  the  first  tide  of 
emigration  had  passed,  and  a  great  number  of  the  French 
had  left  the  canton,  to  direct  their  steps  toward  Germany 
and  the  Netherlands,  the  state  definitively  organized  this 
surplus  population.  The  maintenance  of  the  poor  was  at 
first  provided  for  by  the  institution  of  a  "  refugee  chamber," 
which  was  composed  of  six  members,  and  a  senator  to  preside 
over  them.t  The  whole  body  of  the  refugees  was  divided 
into  four  corporations  or,  exchange  companies,  which  stood 
them  in  lieu  of  the  privilege  of  burghership  :  that  of  Lau- 
sanne, that  of  Nyon,  which  was  afterward  united  to  the  for- 
mer, that  of  Vevay,  which  was  afterward  merged  in  the 
burghership  of  that  community,  and  that  of  Berne,  which  ex- 
clusively comprised  the  fugitives  who  were  domiciliated  in 
that  capital.  J  These  corporations,  which  formed  as  many 
small  private  societies,  were  charged,  as  were  all  the  other 
Bernese  communities,  with  the  maintenance  of  their  poor. 
They  disposed  of,  to  that  efi"ect,  funds  provided  by  legacies, 
pious  donations,  collections,  which  the  state  authorized  in 
the  churches,  and  an  annual  subsidy  which  was  granted  by 
the  "  refugee  chamber."  They  exercised  a  tutelary  guard- 
ianship over  those  under  their  jurisdiction,  through  the  me- 
dium of  committees,  which  were  freely  elected  in  the  gen- 
eral assemblies,  and  which  bore  the  title  of  "  directions,"  or 

*  The  supplementary  document  quoted. 

f  It  was  called  in  the  German   language,  die  exulanten  kammer. 
±  Archives  of  Berne.     Memoirs  remitted   to   the   administrative 
chamber.    February  11,  1801. 


180  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

councils  of  the  burghersliip.*  The  corporation  of  Lausanne 
first  nominated  a  "  direction,"  which  was  charged  to  watch 
over  all  its  interests.  Having  met  in  general  assemblage  at 
the  end  of  September.  1687,  the  exiles,  who  were  established 
in  that  hospitable  city,  designated  a  committee  by  the  plu- 
rality of  votes,  which  was  at  first  called  "  the  company  de- 
puted for  the  aff'airs  of  the  French  refugees  for  the  cause  of 
the  holy  Gospel."  The  pastors  Barbeyrac,  de  Mejane,  and 
Julien,  and  the  laymen  de  Saint-Hilaire,  de  Vignelles  and 
Clary,  were  elected  members  of  the  company,  who  received  it 
as  their  mission  "  to  visit  and  console  the  sick,  to  overlook 
morals,  reprove  the  scandalous,  and  to  decide  difi"erences." 

The  corporation  of  Berne  was  not  organized,  until  two 
years  after  that  of  Lausanne.  On  the  21st  of  February, 
1689,  the  chiefs  of  families  met  together  in  general  assem- 
bly, in  the  French  temple,  and  chose  as  inspectors  and 
supervisors  of  the  colony  by  the  plurality  of  votes,  Jean 
Modeux,  of  Marsillargues,  in  Languedoc  ;  Isaac  Bermont, 
of  Vernoux,  in  Vivarais ;  and  Jean  Thiers,  of  Orpierre,  in 
Dauphiny;  and  among  the  laity,  Jean  ScipioD  Peyrol  and 
Laurent  Domerc,  lawyers,  of  Montpellier ;  Pierre  Mesmyn, 
of  Paris ;  Barthelemy  Moutillon,  of  Anuonay,  in  A^ivarais ; 
and  Pierre  du  Simitiere,  of  Montpellier.  This  choice  was 
approved  of  by  the  chamber  of  refugees,  who  designated  to 
preside  over  the  "  direction,"  Moise  Holland,  a  minister  of 
the  French  church  of  Berne,  and  one  of  the  most  distinguish- 
ed members  of  the  body  of  pastors,  f  The  attributes  of  this 
committee  were  the  same  as  those  of  the  "  direction  "  of 

*  List  of  the  members  of  the  French  colony  of  Berne  printed  in  that 
city,  in  1845,  in  German. 

f  Book  of  the  Deliberations  of  the  Inspectors  of  the  Refugees 
in  the  city  of  Berne.  This  book,  and  all  the  documents  generally, 
which  concern  the  Colony  of  Berne,  and  which  liave  emanated  frmn 
the  "Direction,"  have  been  recenth"  transferred  to  La  ]SeiiveYi!le, 
where  we  have  consulted  them. 


GENEVESE    POPULATION.  181 

Lausanne.  The  members  were  charged  "  to  assemble  to 
watch  over  the  conduct  of  the  refugees,  to  remedy  the  irreg- 
ularities and  irreverences  which  one  or  the  other  of  them 
might  be  guilty  of,  and  to  apply  the  necessary  censures  and 
exhortations."  But  all  the  provinces,  which  had  furnished 
emigrants,  not  being  represented,  and  complaints  to  that 
effect  having  been  made  to  the  magistrates,  the  chamber  of 
refugees  decided  in  1695,  that  the  "direction"  should  still 
remain  composed  of  eight  members,  but  that  two  should  be 
chosen  from  among  the  Protestant  natives  of  Lauguedoc, 
two  from  among  those  of  Dauphiny,  two  from  those  of  Bresse 
and  Burgundy,  one  from  Paris,  and  one  from  the  Yivarais. 
The  state  of  Zurich  had  already  received  three  thousand 
fugitives,  in  less  than  one  month  after  the  revocation.*  But 
in  the  years  which  followed  it,  and  above  all  in  1687,  new 
emigrants  presented  themselves  in  crowds,  and  joined  with 
those  who  had  preceded  them.  When,  in  1693,  the  five 
Protestant  cantons  divided  the  maintenance  of  4,560  refugee 
paupers  between  them,  Zurich  received  998,  Berne  2,000, 
Bale  640,  Schaffhausen  589,  and  Saint-dall  333.  f  The 
French  "  reformed,"  who  established  themselves  at  Zurich, 
formed  there  a  corporation  directed  by  a  consistory,  of 
which  the  pastor  Reboulet,  the  former  minister  of  Tournon, 
was  one  of  the  most  eminent  members.  | 

The  Genevese  population  comprised  three  distinct 
classes ;  the  citizens,  the  inhabitants  and  the  foreigners. 
The  small  extent  of  the  city  and  country,  and  yet  more  the 
fear  of  offending  Louis  XIV.  did  not  allow  the  magistrates 
to  concede  the  right  of  the  city  to  many  of  the  refugees. 
That  favor,  which  was  so  prodigally  bestowed  in  the  preced- 

*  See  Tambonneau's  Dispatch,  already  quoted,  Nov.  10,  1685. 

f  Archives  of  Berne.  Recess  of  the  Protestant  Cantons.  Year 
169  3. 

■\.  Book  of  the  Deliberations  of  the  Inspectors  of  the  Refugees  in 
the  city  of  Berne,  Dec.  11,  1693  ;  Dec.  10,  1694 ;  Oct.  2,  &  April  1, 1695. 


182  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

ing  century,  was  only  granted,  after  the  revocation,  to   men 
whose  fortune  or  personal  celebrity  promised  an  increase  of 
power  or  brilliancy  to  the  republic  ;    to  Jacques  Eynard,  of 
La    Baume,  a   scion   of  a   noble   family  of  Dauphiny,  one 
branch   of  which   had    retired    to    PJngland,  and  who  was 
appointed  a  member  of  the  council  of  two  hundred,  in  1704  • 
to    Claude    Claparede,  of  Montpellier,    second    consul    of 
Nimes,   from  the  year  1672,   who  escaped  from  France  in 
1685,  bringing  with  him  eighty  thousand   livres  in  money, 
and  bills   of  exchange  ;  to    Lacomte,  a  rich   merchant    of 
Elboeuf ;    to    Naville  and   to    Boissier    d'Anduze  ;    to    the 
Counts  of  Sellon,  who  were  natives  of  Nimes  ;  to  Vasserot, 
of  the  valley  of  Queyras  ;  to  Audeoud,  of  Saint  Bonnet,  in 
Dauphiny ;  to    Henri,  Marquis    Duquesne,  the    son    of  the 
Admiral,  and  to  his    two    sons,  in   consideration — say  the 
registers  of  the  council — of  his  great  qualities,  and  chiefly 
on  account  of  his  piety  and  probity ;  to  Joussaud,  a  gentle- 
man of  Castres  ;  to  Abauzit  of  Uzes ;  to   Frangois    Samuel 
Say,  a  minister  of  London,  a  native  of  Nimes  ;  to  Galissard 
de  Marignac,  of  Alais ;  to  Fuzier  Cayla,  of  the  Bouergue ; 
to    Perdrian,  of   La    Bochelle ;   to   Sacirene,  a  skilful   silk 
manufacturer  of  Uzes  ;  and  to  Antoine  Aubert,  a  cloth  mer- 
chant, of  Cret,  in  Dauphiny.*     They  even  feared  to  admit 
the  refugees  to  the  domicile,  which  gave  to  those  who  ob- 
tained it,  and  to  their  descendants,  a  right  of  permanent 
sojourn,  and  the  privilege   of  being  relieved  by  the  fund, 
although  they  were  made  to  promise  in  the  act  of  reception, 
never   to    make  use   of  it.     The  "  inhabitants  "  formed  an 
intermediate  category  between  the  citizen  burghers  and  the 
foreigners,  properly  so  called,  and  in  some  degree  a  body  of 
candidates  for  citizenship,  that  point  of  all  ambition  in  the 
Genevese  society.     The   magistrates  not   only  refused  that 
right  to  the  refugees,  which  they  coveted  so  ardently,  but 
they  even   shunned   giving   them   billets   for  quarters,  for 
*  GalifFe.     Genealogical  Notices  of  Genevese  Families. 


LATTER    EMIGRATIONS.  183 

fear,  says  the  register  of  August  1st,  1688,  "  that  our  tole- 
rance and  facility  in  receiving  the  refugees  may  openly 
appear."  They  generally  contented  themselves  with  in- 
scribing their  names  upon  the  memoranda  of  the  councillors. 
The  receptions  to  the  right  of  domicile,  during  the  last 
fifteen  years  of  the  seventeenth  century,  did  not  exceed  the 
number  of  754.*  About  half  of  the  new  inhabitants  were 
natives  of  Dauphiny,  a  little  more  than  a  quarter  were  from 
Languedoc,  and  almost  all  the  rest  were  from  the  Pays  du 
Gex.  But  one  would  be  greatly  deceived  by  taking  that 
number  as  the  basis  of  the  refugee  element  of  the  Genevese 
population  ;  for,  at  no  period  of  time,  did  that  city  receive  so 
many  of  the  reformed,  who  had  escaped  from  France,  as 
when  it  showed  itself  most  sparing  of  favors  toward  them. 
It  results,  in  fact,  from  a  second  census,  which  was  taken 
in  1693,  that,  of  a  city  population  of  16,111  individuals, 
3,330  were  refugees.! 

The  general  or  partial  persecutions,  which  were  renewed 
in  France  in  the  course  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  which 
did  not  entirely  cease  until  under  the  reign  of  Louis  XVI., 
brought  new  fugitives  to  Geneva  and  the  Protestant  cantons. 
Most  of  them  united  themselves  to  the  old  colonies,  which 
were  formed  after  the  revocation.  It  is  not  possible  to  form 
an  exact  valuation  of  their  number,  although  at  certain  pe- 
riods the  bands  of  fugitives  were  sufficiently  numerous  to 
attract  attention. 

When,  in  1703,  the  Count  de  Grignan  occupied  with  his 
troops  the  principality  of  Orange,  over  which  the  King  al- 
leged the  rights  of  the  Prince  of  Conti,  the  Protestant  min- 
isters received  passports  to  withdraw  to  Geneva,  and  all  the 
inhabitants,  who  refused  to  embrace  the  Catholic  religion, 

*  See  in  the  Archives  of  the  Genevese  Exchange,  the  Domicilia- 
tion Book,  or  the  register  of  those  who  satisfied  the  French  Ex- 
change Company. 

t  Register  of  the  Council  of  the  25th  of  July,  1693. 


184  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

were  authorized  to  quit  their  native  country.  Berne,  Zurich , 
and  Bale  divided  the  maintenance  of  a  thousand  of  these 
emigrants  among  them  ;  tlie  others  found  an  asylum  in  Bran- 
denburgh.* 

As  to  the  Waldense  refugees  of  the  valleys  of  Lucerne, 
who  had  flocked  into  Switzerland,  in  1686,  to  the  number  of 
five  thousand,  the  diet  of  Arau  had  distributed  them  amono- 

o 

the  five  Protestant  cantons.  Of  each  hundred  Berne  had 
received  forty-four,  Zurich  thirty,  Bale  twelve,  Schaflfhausen 
nine,  and  Saint- Gall  five.  Glaris  and  Appenzell  were  like- 
wise charged  with  the  maintenance  of  a  small  number  of  the 
most  needy.!  But  those  emigrants  were  only  transient 
guests  of  Switzerland.  The  greater  part  of  them  returned 
with  arms  in  their  hands  to  their  own  country  in  1689,  under 
the  conduct  of  the  celebrated  Arnaud,  whom  they  called  their 
colonel  and  pastor  at  the  same  time,  or  established  themselves 
in  the  States  of  the  great  Elector. 

*  Erman  and  Re  clam,  vol.  viii.  book  xxxviii. 

f  Dispatch  of  Tambonneau,  Souleure,  January  4th,  1687. 


CHAPTER    II. 

INFLUENCE    OF    THE    EEFUGEES    ON    AGEICULTUEE,    MANUFACTUEES, 
AND  COMMEEOE. 

New  Modes  of  Cultivation  ia  the  Pays  de  Yaud— Model  gardens— Culture  of  the 
Mulberry  in  the  Canton  of  Berne— Manufactures  at  Lausanne— End  of  the  trade 
of  peddling  in  the  Pays  de  Vaud— Silk  Manufactures  at  Berne— Manufactures  at 
Zurich— Commerce  of  Neufchatel— Progress  of  mechanical  arts  in  Geneva— Watcli- 
making— Coutraband  trade. 

The  activity  which  the  refugees,  for  whom  an  entirely  new 
existence  was  commencing,  displayed,  excited  the  most  lively 
emulation  among  the  Swiss,  and  produced  the  most  happy 
and  surprising  results.  Agriculture,  in  the  first  place,  owed 
its  remarkable  progress  to  those  peasants  of  Dauphiny  and 
Languedoc,  who  had  left  their  cottages  to  seek  religious 
liberty  upon  a  foreign  soil.  They  improved,  above  all,  in 
the  Pays  de  Yaud,  the  culture  of  the  vine  and  mulberry. 
Before  their  arrival,  most  of  the  vegetables  which  are  culti- 
vated in  the  south  of  France  were  unknown  in  that  province. 
Kitchen  gardens  could  be  nowhere  seen.  The  daily  food  of 
the  inhabitants  was  uniform  and  coarse.  The  refugees  en- 
tirely transformed  the  fields,  which  were  distributed  to  them. 
A  great  number  of  noted  gardeners,  and  among  them  the 
Combernous,  the  Dumas,  and  the  Moulins,  established  them- 
selves in  the  fertile  district  of  Cour,  not  far  from  Lausanne. 
They  introduced  thither  the  culture  of  a  multitude  of  new 
vegetables  and  fruits.  They  created  also  model  gardens, 
which  the  Waldenses  soon  imitated.  The  managers  of  the 
charity  schools  derived  advantage  from  the  neighborhood  of 


186  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

these  skilful  agriculturists.  They  apprenticed  many  of  their 
pupils  to  them.  The  culture  of  nurseries  and  kitchen  gar- 
dens propagated  itself  little  by  little  on  the  borders  of  Lake 
Leman,  and  these  first  establishments  furnished  with  vegeta- 
bles and  fruit-trees,  not  only  the  environs  of  Lausanne,  but 
the  whole  Pays  de  Vaud,  and  even  the  neighboring  cantons 
of  German  Switzerland.  In  1761,  the  use  of  gardens  was 
still  almost  unknown  to  the  villages,  which  were  distant  from 
the  capital  of  that  smiling  country.  At  the  present  day, 
however,  it  presents  a  fairy  aspect,  which  strikes  the  travel- 
ler with  astonishment  and  admiration.* 

Berne  and  Zurich  likewise  received  a  certain  number  of 
laboring  families,  who  taught  the  native  cultivators  the  supe- 
rior modes  of  agriculture,  which  were  in  use  in  their  native 
country.!  The  culture  of  the  mulberry,  above  all,  was  prop- 
agated round  about  Berne  by  Brutel  de  la  Riviere,  a  native 
of  Montpellier,  to  whom  the  magistrates  assigned  a  vast  and 
fertile  estate,  in  which  he  established  a  magnificent  plantation 
of  mulberry-trees,  which  he  had  brought  from  Languedoc. 

The  presence  of  the  refugees  also  served,  at  the  end  of  a 
few  years,  to  develope  manufactures  and  commerce  in  almost 
all  the  cities  in  which  they  settled.  At  Lausanne  they  es- 
tablished hat-manufactories,  printing-presses,  potteries,  tan- 
neries, and  manufactures  of  chintz,  cotton,  and  stockings. 
Until  that  time,  the  internal  traffic  of  the  Pays  de  Yaud  was 
carried  on  solely  by  means  of  peddlers,  and  the  most  neces- 
sary articles  of  domestic  consumption  came  from  Bale, 
Zurich,  and  G-eneva.  The  refugees  not  only  exercised  new 
branches  of  industry,  which  spread  prosperity  abroad  through- 
out Lausanne,  but  they  were  the  first  to  open  stores  and 
shops,  and  thus  substituted  regular  commerce  for  the  occa- 
sional traffic  which  alone,  up  to  that  period,  had  been  in  use 
in  that  country.  J 

*  Verdeil,  vol.  ii.  p.  316 ;  vol.  iii.  pp.  246,  247. 
f  Dispatches  of  Tambonneau,  passim. 
t  VerdeiL  vol.  ii.  pp.  315,  316. 


MANUFACTURES    IN    BERNE.  187 

At  Berne  they  created  manufactories  of  silk,  woollens, 
cloths,  and  spotted  and  colored  stockings.*  The  most  ele- 
gant silk  goods  soon  issued  from  the  establishments  of 
Dautun  and  Junquieres.f  Two  families  of  workmen,  who 
had  worked  at  Gobelins,  introduced  into  Berne  the  art  of 
embroidering  tapestry.f  A  rich  piece  of  tapestry  is  still 
preserved  in  the  Town  Hall  which  ornaments  the  council 
table,  and  for  which  a  thousand  crowns  were  paid  to  two  sis- 
ters who  embroidered  it  with  the  most  exquisite  art.  Time 
has  to  the  present  day  respected  the  magnificent  designs,  and 
even  the  freshness  of  the  coloring,  of  this  masterpiece  of 
refugee  industry.  The  government  soon  comprehended  what 
immense  advantages  the  country  might  derive  from  the  new 
manufactures.  It  favored  them,  therefore,  by  every  means 
in  its  power.  In  1686,  it  lent  a  considerable  sum  of 
money  to  the  emigrants  of  Valence,  to  assist  them  to  found 
a  cloth  manufactory.  The  same  year,  a  vast  building,  situ- 
ated near  the  French  church,  was  granted  by  the  magistrates 
to  those  who  would  undertake  diverse  manufactures,  and  all 
those  who  exercised  any  useful  trade,  likewise,  received  en- 
courao-ement.  At  Zurich,  as  at  Berne,  the  manufactories 
founded  by  the  refugees  were  protected  in  every  way  by  the 
government.^  The  richest  private  individuals  advanced 
funds  to  the  fabricators,  and  the  state  itself  guaranteed  their 
solvency.  \\ 

At  Neufchatel,  where  the  emigrants  arrived  in  fewer 
numbers,  they  through  choice  gave  themselves  up  to  com- 
merce. There  established  himself  Jacepes  Pourtalez,  of 
Vigan,  who  enriched  himself  by  trade,  and  whose  descend- 

*  Book  of  the  deliberations  of  the  refugee  inspectors  in  the  city 
of  Berne,  24tli  of  September,  1694. 

f  Ibid.,  22d  of  April,  1695. 

X  Dispatch  of  Tambonneau  of  May  81st,  USi. 

§  Book  of  the  deliberations  of  the  refugee  inspectors  in  the  city 
of  Berne,  December  11th,  1693. 

I  Dispatch  of  Tambonneau,  Nov.  10th,  1685. 


188  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

ants,  at  the  present  day,  possess  one  of  the  largest  fortunes 
in  Europe. 

It  was  at  Geneva,  above  all,  that  the  mechanical  arts  re- 
ceived a  remarkable  impulse  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  In  the  years  which  closely  preceded  or  followed 
the  revocation,  the  council  had  to  promulgate  regulations  for 
the  silk-reelers  and  mill-men,  chamois  and  morocco  leather 
dressers,  lace-makers,  and  weavers  of  taffeties.*  So  early 
as  the  year  1685,  eighty  masters  and  two  hundred  journey- 
men goldsmiths  and  jewellers  could  be  counted  in  Genoa. 
The  book  trade,  likewise,  occupied  a  great  number  of  work- 
men. The  silk  manufacture,  which  dated  from  the  reign 
of  Henry  IV.,  was  in  the  course  of  prosperity  and  progress. 
In  1688,  a  rich  inhabitant  of  Nimes,  Jacques  Felix,  re-estab- 
lished in  that  city  a  large  manufactory  of  silk  and  woollen 
stockings,  which  he  had  directed  in  France.  He  had  suc- 
ceeded in  transporting  thither  eight  looms,  with  which  he 
recommenced  his  labors.  His  brother  Louis  was  author- 
ized to  found  a  manufactory  of  taffeties  and  ribbons. f  Lace- 
making  alone  employed  two  thousand  workmen. j;  A  refu- 
gee named  Thelusson  took  most  of  them  into  his  service, 
and  introduced,  into  Geneva,  a  new  mode  of  manufacturing 
lace  with  many  shuttles.^  The  workmen  generally  of  the 
north  of  France,  and  above  all,  of  Paris,  Dijon,  and  Ma- 
con, were  goldsmiths,  jewellers,  and  refiners;  those  of  the 
south,  were  almost  all  velvet  makers,  cloth  weavers,  and  silk 
workers.  All  those  who  had  peculiar  skill,  and  who  were 
judged  capable  of  exercising  some  trade,  or  working  at  some 
manufacture,  were  retained  at  any  price.  ||  Among  the 
divers  mechanics  who  flocked  into  Geneva,  a  considerable 

*  Picot.    History  of  Geneva,  vol.  iii.  p.  1*76. 

f  Register  of  the  Council  of  Geneva,  August  8th,  1688. 

X  Picot,  vol.  iii.  p.  116. 

§  Register  of  the  Council  of  Geneva,  IS'^ov.  24th,  1686. 

II  Ibid.,  Sept.  9th,  1687. 


GENEVESE    WATCHMAKING.  189 

number  of  watchmakers  were  remarked,  above  all,  whose  in- 
dustry was  not  slow  to  prosper  in  that  city  and  all  the  coun- 
try which  surrounded  it.  In  1685,  could  be  counted  as  yet 
but  a  hundred  master  watchmakers,  and  three  hundred  jour- 
neymen, who  supplied  to  commerce  five  thousand  watches 
yearly.  A  hundred  years  afterward,  that  same  branch  of 
industry  employed,  in  the  city  alone,  six  thousand  workmen, 
who  manufactured  every  year  more  than  fifty  thousand 
watches,  and  since  that  time  it  has  increased  still  more.* 
During  the  whole  of  the  eighteenth  century,  Geneva  export- 
ed her  articles  of  clock  work  to  the  neighboring  countries. 
If  the  Parisian  watchmakers  preserve  their  reputation  for 
the  excellence  of  their  productions,  the  Genevese  excel  them 
in  cheapness. 

The  contraband  trade  established  by  the  refugees,  con- 
stituted a  new  loss  for  France.  They  caused  to  be  sent  by 
correspondents,  whom  they  had  at  Lyons  and  in  the  princi- 
pal towns  of  Dauphiny,  articles  of  daily  consumption,  which 
they  sold  in  Switzerland  and  the  bordering  countries.  The 
Genevese  were  the  mediums  of  this  traffic.  Profiting  by 
their  knowledge  of  the  country,  they  transported  the  mer- 
chandise by  paths  which  wound  through  the  Jura  mountains, 
and  thus  eluded  the  custom-house  of  Valence.  In  the  space 
of  two  years,  the  three  brothers  Jean,  Jacques,  and  Louis 
Mallet,  thus  succeeded  in  drawing  from  the  kingdom  manu- 
factured articles  of  the  value  of  more  than  a  million  livres, 
which  the  refugees  found  means  to  resell  to  advantage  at  the 
free  fairs  of  Soleure  and  the  other  cantons.  "  Every  day," 
wrote  Tambonneau,  "  they  say  to  m_y  wife,  when  they  have 
not  linens,  cloths,  silk-stuffs,  lace  and  other  things  which  are 
wanted,  that  she  has  but  to  let  them  know  what  she  desires, 
and  they  will  order  it  from  their  correspondents."!  As  they 
contented  themselves  with  smaller  profits  than  the  peddlers  of 

*  Picot.  vol.  iii.  p.  176. 

f  Tarabonneau's  Dispatch  of  May  31st,  1687. 


190  FRENCH   PROTESTANT   REFUGEES. 

the  country,  they  did  not  fail  to  excite  their  jealousy.  The 
French  government  also  had  a  great  interest  in  preventing 
the  continuation  of  a  clandestine  trade  which  diminished  the 
public  revenues.  "  You  have  done  well,"  wrote  Louis  XIV 
to  his  ambassador,  "  in  informing  me  of  the  frauds  which  the 
French  refugees,  in  Switzerland,  succeed  in  accomplishing, 
through  the  facilities  which  the  inhabitants  of  Geneva  aflford 
them,  and  I  will  consider  the  means  which  can  be  used  to 
prevent  its  continuance."  * 

*  Letter  of  Louis  XIY.  to  Tambonneau,  June  12th.  1687. 


CHAPTEK    III. 

OF    THE   POLITICAL   INFLTJENOE    OF    THE   REFUGEES. 

Double  character  of  that  influence — Services  rendered  by  Henri  Duquesne,  to  the 
canton  of  Berne — Participation  of  the  Eefugees  in  the  expedition  of  Colonel  Ar- 
naud,  1689— Project  of  the  Marquis  de  Miremont— Conduct  of  the  Eefugees 
during  the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession— Cavalier— Colonel  de  Portes— Com- 
plaints of  the  Marquis  de  Puisieux — The  Banneret  Blanchet  de  Lutry— Com- 
plaints of  the  French  Eesident  at  Geneva— Eelations  of  the  Eefugees  with  the 
Camisards — Letters  of  Baville — Flottard — Conduct  of  the  Eefugees  in  the  ques- 
tion of  the  succession  of  Neufchatel,  1707 — Services  rendered  to  the  evangelical 
cantons  in  the  war  of  Toggenburg,  1712— Battle  of  Villmergen— New  services 
rendered  to  Berne  during  the  eighteenth  century. 

The  political  part  of  the  refugees  in  Switzerland  was  double. 
On  the  one  hand,  they  rendered  veritable  services  to  the 
states,  which  received  them,  by  fighting  valiantly  under  their 
banner.  On  the  other,  through  their  hatred  against  Louis 
XIV.,  and  the  efforts  of  many  of  them  to  rekindle  civil  war 
in  France,  they  more  than  once  became  the  source  of  grave 
complications,  which  nearly  hurried  the  Protestant  cantons 
into  open  war  against  the  great  king. 

At  the  head  of  the  political  emigrants  was  Henri,  Mar- 
quis Duquesne,  son  of  the  celebrated  admiral  who  had  van- 
quished Ruyter,  and  for  an  instant  raised  the  French  marine 
above  that  of  the  Dutch  and  English.  In  the  first  place, 
having  taken  refuge  in  Holland,  after  he  had  renounced  his 
project  of  colonizing  one  of  the  Mascarenhas  islands,  he  re- 
tired into  the  Pays  de  Vaud,  and  became  Baron  d'Aubonne. 
When,  in  1689,  differences  broke  out  between  the  canton  of 


192  FRENCH   PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

Berne  and  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  he  accepted  a  commission 
to  organize  a  naval  force  upon  lake  Leman,  He  also  caused 
the  port  of  Morges  to  be  deepened,  to  serve  as  a  point  of 
shelter  and  reunion  to  the  flotilla  destined  to  cover  the 
shores  of  the  Pays  de  Yaud  against  the  attacks  of  the  Savoy- 
ards. A  number  of  gun-boats  were  equipped  under  his 
directions.  Each  was  70  feet  long,  and  had  12  oars,  24 
rowers,  3  cannon  of  divers  calibres,  and  6  double  arquebusses 
in  battery  along  the  sides.  Each  had  a  crew,  armed  with 
muskets,  axes,  and  boarding-pikes,  and  was  able  to  transport 
400  infantry.  It  was  necessary  to  complete  this  little 
squadron  by  light  vessels.  Duquesne  caused  all  the  barks, 
brigantines,  and  fishing-boats  to  be  registered.  The  boat- 
men and  fishermen  were  withdrawn  from  the  ranks  of  the 
militia,  and  their  names  were  inscribed  as  sailors  upon  the 
muster  rolls  of  the  flotilla.* 

This  fugitive,  who  thus  contributed  to  the  defence  of  his 
new  country,  had  secretly  brought  from  Paris  the  heart  of 
his  father,  whose  memory  Louis  XIV.  refused  to  honor  by  a 
j^ublic  monument.  The  body  even  of  that  great  man  had 
been  refused  to  his  son,  who  had  prepared  for  it  a  sepulchre 
in  a  foreign  land.  He  caused  the  following  words  to  be  en- 
graved on  the  mausoleum  which  he  raised  to  him  in  the 
church  of  d'Aubonne :  "  This  tomb  awaits  the  remains  of 
Duquesne.  Traveller,  interrogate  the  court,  the  army,  the 
church,  and  even  Asia,  Africa,  and  the  two  oceans ;  ask 
them  why  a  superb  mausoleum  has  been  erected  to  the  brave 
Ruyter,  and  none  to  Duquesne,  his  conqueror  ?  .  .  .  I  see 
that,  through  respect  for  the  great  king,  thou  darest  not  break 
silence." 

When,  in  1689,  Colonel  Arnaud  crossed  the  snows  of 
Mount  Cenis  to  bring  back  the  exiled  Waldenses  to  the  val- 
leys where  their  ancestors  had  dwelt,  the  French  refugees 
desired  to  join  in  his  enterprise,  and  fight  against  a  prince 

*  Verdeil,  vol.  ii.  p,  816,  317. 


RETURN  OF  THE  WALDENSES.  193 

allied    with    Louis   XIV.     A   distinguished    officer    named 
Bourgeois,  who   resided    at   Yverdun,   took   command  of  a 
corps  of  volunteers,  who  were  to  follow  the  main  body  and 
support  it  against  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men  which 
Catinat  commanded.     He  divided  his  soldiers  into  nineteen 
companies,  thirteen  of  which  were  composed  of  refugees,  who 
were   almost  all  natives   of  Languedoc  and  Dauphiny,  and 
chose  for  his  lieutenant  a  French  officer  named  Couteau.*   The 
bad  success  of  that  expedition,  which  was  repulsed  by  the 
Counts  de  Bernex  and  de  Montbrison,  while  Arnaud  was 
victorious  at  Sallabertran,  the  condemnation  to   death   of 
Bourgeois  by  the  Bernese  government,  who  wished  to  shun 
a  rupture  with   France,  and  the  flight  of  Couteau  to  Eng- 
land, did  not  discourage  the  exiles.     They  did  not  only  con- 
tinue to  favor  the  Waldenses  against  the  Dulr^  of  Savoy,  but 
they  persisted  in  their  entreaties  to  En^iand  and  Holland, 
and  solicited  the  support  of  these  tw^  powers  for  an  enter- 
prise destined  to  raise  the  Protestn^its  of  Languedoc  and  the 
Cevennes.     The  Marquis   de   Miremont,  who   was  to  com- 
mand the  expedition,  addres^^ed  himself  to  Marshal  Sehom- 
berg,  and  submitted  to  him  a  plan  of  the  campaign.     He 
counted  upon  the  discontent  of  the  Protestants  of  the  south, 
and  supposed  that  they  would  take  up  arms,  so  soon  as  they 
had  hopes  of  ibeing  succored.     The  distance  of  the  troops 
who  were  employed  upon  all  the  frontiers,  whilst  the  pro- 
vinces, full  of  religionists,  were  entirely  disgarnished,   ap- 
peared to  him  a  favorable  opportunity.     Two  thousand  men, 
cliosen  and  commanded  by  picked  officers,  were  to  penetrate 
into  Dauphiny  by  the  way  of  G-eneva,  Nyon  and  Coppet, 
and  present  themselves  in  the  midst  of  the  secret  meetings 
of  their  brethren,  who  were  to  be  informed  beforehand  and 
assembled  in  arms,  under  the  pretext  of  defending  their  min- 
isters.    They  would  carefully  forbear  to  irritate  the  Catho- 
lics ;  they  would  even  endeavor  to  persuade  them  to  join 

*  Verdeil,  vol.  ii.  p.  322  and  32*7. 
VOL.   II. — 9 


194  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

with  the  Protestants,  by  alleging  the  common  grievances  of 
both  parties ;  the  splendor  of  the  nobility  tarnished,  the  au- 
thority of  the  parliaments  overthrown,  and  the  States  General 
suppressed.  The  insurrectional  column  would  every  where 
proclaim,  upon  its  march,  the  abolition  of  marked  paper,* 
taxes  and  soldiers'  billets,  and  would  endeavor  to  provoke 
the  population  of  the  country  to  tear  down  and  burn  the 
custom-houses,  in  order  to  compromise  them,  and  retain  them 
under  the  standard  of  revolt,  through  the  fear  of  chastise- 
ment.! 

The  entry  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy  into  alliance  with  the 
nations  leagued  against  Louis  XIV.,  and  the  events  of  the 
general  \Tar,  modified  this  plan  of  attack,  and  the  expedition 
of  the  refugees  into  the  south  of  France  was  adjourned. 
Many  among  t^^^m  enrolled  themselves  in  the  Swiss  regi- 
ments, which  fougkt  in  Piedmont  and  Holland,  and  asso- 
ciated themselves  without  scruple,  in  the  struggle  of  Europe, 
in  coalition,  against  their  former  country.  Others  secretly 
re-entered  the  most  agitated  parts  of  Languedoc,  in  order 
there  to  foment  the  insurrectioa. 

During  the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession,  a  young  in- 
habitant of  the  Gevennes,  who  had  followed  many  of  the 
voluntarily  exiled  Protestants,  and,  for  some  time,  gained  his 
livelihood  by  working  at  Geneva  and  Lausanne  as  a  journey- 
man baker,  all  at  once  experienced  that  imperious  necessity 
^  of  revisiting  his  country,  which  is  so  natural  to  mountain- 
eers. He  quitted  the  country,  which  had  given  him  an  asy-  j 
lum.,  and,  following  secret  paths  across  the  Jura,  he  arrived! 
in  Upper  Languedoc  at  the  very  moment  when  the  cruelties 
of  Baville,  and  the  excess  of  zeal  of  the  Abb6  Du  C  hay  la, 
caused  the  revolt  of  the  Camisards  to  break  out.  He  im- 
mediately joined  with  his  brethren,  astonished  them  by  his 

*  Stamped  paper  was  so  called. 

f  Lamberty.  Memoirs  of  the  History  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
vol.  iii.  p.  288.     The  Hap:ne,  1126. 


JOHN    CAVALIER.  195 

courage  and  audacity,  became  one  of  their  chiefs,  and  carried 
on  the  campaign  in  the  plains,  whilst  Roland  commanded  in 
the  mountains.  That  general  of  twenty-one  years  of  age 
was  Cavalier.  Seduced  by  the  promises  of  Marshal  Villars, 
he  laid  down  his  arms  ;  but,  being  scorned  by  Louis  XIV., 
who  saw  him  for  an  instant  at  Versailles,  he  escaped  from 
France,  and  returned  to  Switzerland,  where  his  principal 
lieutenants,  and  a  great  number  of  his  brethren  in  arms  re- 
joined him.*  Having  arrived  at  Lausanne,  he  endeavored 
to  organize  a  regiment  of  volunteers,  destined  to  enter  the 
service  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  to  penetrate  into  Languedoc 
and  protect  the  disembarkation  of  a  division  from  the 
Dutch  fleet.  At  the  same  time,  the  Count  de  Briancon, 
the  envoy  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  pressed  England  and  Hol- 
land to  contribute,  by  their  subsidies,  to  a  levy  of  fifteen 
thousand  men,  which  another  refugee,  the  Marquis  de  Mire- 
mont,  proposed  to  make  in  Romanish  Switzerland,  where 
there  are,  said  he,  ''  a  number  of  foreigners,  out  of  work,  en- 
tirely without  money,  and  consequently  ready  to  become 
soldiers,  n  -jrely  for  bread."  f  The  marquis  announced 
nothing  less  than  the  project  of  reanimating  the  revolt  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Cevennes,  and  carrying  his  arms  into  the 
very  bowels  of  France.  Colonel  de  Fortes  in  conclusion,  re- 
cruited in  the  Pays  de  Vaud,  a  regiment  which  was  paid  by 
William  III.,  when  the  French  ambassador,  the  Marquis  de 
Puisieux,  who  was  informed  of  all  his  secret  practices,  com- 
plained to  the  council  of  Berne,  and  sent  a  notification  to  the 
diet  assembled  at  Baden.  But  the  expressions  contained 
in  it  were  singularly  mild,  and  did  not  at  all  resemble  the 
imperious  exactions  of  the  representatives  of  Louis  XIV.  in 

*  See,  for  the  sojom*n  of  Cavalier  at  Paris,  and  liis  departure  from 
France,  our  chapter  on  England, 

f  Lamberty,  vol.  iii.  p.  23Y.  M.  Verdeil,  vol.  ii.  p.  339,  deceives 
himself  in  attributing  this  project  to  a  Marquis  de  Mirecourt,  no  trace 
of  whom  we  have  found  in  the  history  of  the  refugees. 


196  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

the  first  part  of  his  reign,  for  so  long  a  time  glorious.  The  vic- 
tories of  Marlborough  and  Eugene  had  destroyed  almost  all 
the  illusion  of  the  great  king's  name.  The  diet,  however, 
took  no  decision  on  the  matter,  and  contented  itself  with 
transmitting  the  notification  of  the  ambassador  to  the  can- 
tons. The  council  of  Berne  feigned  to  eject  the  principal 
chiefs  of  the  refugees,  mo^t  of  whom,  however,  remained 
concealed  in  the  Pays  de  Yaud.  Cavalier  repaired  to  Hol- 
land with  his  best  ofiicers,  and  took  service  in  the  Anglo- 
Dutch  army  which  fought  in  Spain.*  The  other  inhabit- 
ants of  the  Cevennes  enrolled  themselves  in  the  regiment 
of  De  Portes,  which  covered  itself  with  glory  under  Prince 
Eugene,  in  Piedmont,  Lombardy,  Dauphiny,  and  Provence, 
when,  following  the  example  of  their  co-religionists  who  had 
been  long  established  in  Eomanish  Switzerland,  they  fixed 
themselves  in  that  country,  and  provided  for  their  existence 
by  devoting  themselves  like  them  to  manufactures,  commerce, 
and  agriculture. 

The  sojourn  of  so  great  a  number  of  refugees,  however, 
and  the  presence  of  the  recruiting  officers  for  Savoy,  Holland, 
and  England,  continued  to  foment  a  fierce  excitement  among 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Pays  de  Vaud.  While  the  war  of  the 
Spanish  succession  lasted,  free  companies,  chiefly  composed 
of  peojDle  of  the  Cevennes,  made  rapid  incursions  into  the 
Pays  de  Gex,  whence  they  returned  loaded  with  booty. 
Bands  of  adventurers,  under  the  pretext  of  taking  part  in  the 
struggle,  more  than  once  seized  the  convoys  of  silver,  which 
the  banking-houses  of  Geneva  sent  every  month,  by  the  way 
of  Mount  St.  Bernard,  to  the  army  of  the  Duke  of  Yendome 
in  Italy.  The  Banneret  Blanchet  de  Lutrj^,  under  the  pre- 
text of  recovering  the  confiscated  fortune  of  his  wife,  a 
Frenchwoman  of  illustrious  birth,  whom  he  had  saved  from 
the  dragoonings,  believed  himself  authorized  to  carry  off  a 

*  See,  with  regard  to  the  part  which  Cavalier  took  in  the  battle 
of  Almanza,  and  the  last  years  of  his  life,  our  chapter  on  England. 


INVASION    OF    SAVOY.  197 

sum  of  352,000  livres,  destined  for  the  French  troops  in 
Piedmont.  Although  he  was  arrested  upon  the  demand  of 
the  French  ambassador,  and  condemned  to  lose  his  head  upon 
the  scaffold,  hardy  partisans  ceased  not  to  infest  the  routes, 
and  harass  the  isolated  detachments  of  the  armies  of  Louis 
XIV.  In  1 705,  a  band,  composed  of  men  of  the  Pays  de  Vaud 
and  refugees,  carried  off  a  second  convoy  of  21,000  louis 
d'or,  between  Yersoix  and  Coppet,  on  the  French  territory.* 
The  population  of  Geneva  and  the  Pays  de  Vaud  partook 
of  all  the  resentments  of  the  exiles,  and  rejoiced  with  them 
at  the  defeats  of  the  great  king.  When  the  army,  com- 
manded by  the  Marshal  de  Tesse,  and,  after  him,  by  Lafeu- 
illade,  invaded  Savoy,  they  invited  numerous  desertions 
from  its  ranks.  The  French  Resident  at  Geneva,  De  la  Clo- 
sure, complained  bitterly  to  the  magistrates  of  that  city,  who 
promised  to  deliver  up  the  deserters ;  but  the  indignant  citi- 
zens opposed  the  execution  of  that  measure.  They  concealed 
the  French  soldiers  in  their  houses,  bought  their  arms,  and 
passed  them  over  to  the  Camisards.  After  the  battle  of 
Hochstett,  when  the  armies  of  Louis  XIV.  entirely  evacuated 
Germany,  and  the  allies  prepared  to  cross  over  the  frontiers 
of  that  kingdom.  La  Closure  was  more  than  once  obliged  to 
hear  the  clamorous  demonstrations  of  the  mob,  which  came 
beneath  the  windows  of  his  house,  to  testify  its  joy  by  ironi- 
cal serenades.  Hostilities  had  not  as  yet  broken  out,  when 
he  received  certain  proofs  of  the  understanding  between  the 
refugees,  who  were  established  in  that  city,  and  the  insur- 
gents of  the  Cevennes.  They  were  furnished  him  by  the  ter- 
rible intondant  of  Languedoc,  Damoignon  de  Baville.  "  I 
have  not  found  a  Genevese  merchant  in  my  road,  till  within 
a  few  days,"  wrote  the  latter  to  the  French  resident,  who  was 
charged  with  the  communication  of  his  letter  to  the  council. 
"  I  have  discovered  that  one  named  Maille,  rather  a  rich  bur- 
gher of  Anduze,  had  given  money  to  the  Camisards,  of  which 
*  Verdei],  vol  ii.  p.  380. 


198  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

I  have  convicted  him.  He  finally  confessed  every  thino-,  and 
said  that  the  money  came  from  Regis,  a  refugee  at  Greneva, 
who  had  remitted  it  to  his  father,  Regis  of  Anduze,  whom  I 
have  had  arrested.  This  Regis  has  also  confessed  every 
thing,  and  I  shall  sentence  him  to-morrow  along  with  Maille. 
I  beg  you  to  inform  me  if  his  son  does  a  large  business.  He 
is  a  very  unhappy  man  to  cause  his  father  to  perish  in  this 
manner." 

Two  days  afterward,  he  again  wrote  : — 

"  Maille  and  Regis  were  yesterday  tried,  condemned 
to  be  hung,  and  excecuted.  Maille,  after  having  hesitated  a 
long  time,  declared  that  it  was  Regis,  who  remitted  the  mo- 
ney to  him,  which  consisted  of  two  hundred  livres.  I  have 
followed  up  this  affair,  and  have  found  that  Regis  had  drawn 
bills  of  exchange  on  Galdi,  at  Lyons.  The  father  of  Regis 
was  an  old  man  68  years  of  age,  and  greatly  esteemed  in  the 
Cevennes,  as  a  man  possessed  of  a  good  head,  and  capable  of 

leading  others His  unhappy  son  must  much  regret 

having  caused  him  to  perish Would  it  not  be  just 

that  the  gentlemen  of  Greneva  should  deliver  him  to  the  jus- 
tice of  the  King,  or  at  least  drive  him  from  their  city  ?  .  . 
He  is  the  cause  of  the  death  of  two  hundred  persons,  who 
have  been  either  burned  to  death,  broken  on  the  wheel,  or 
hung.  I  have  not  told  you  that  this  knave  wrote  a  letter  to 
Villas,  which  has  been  read  by  all  the  chiefs  of  the  party,  in 
which  he  told  them  that  it  was  necessary  to  begin  by  assas- 
sinating me,  or  carrying  me  off,  and  doing  as  much,  if  possi- 
ble, to  M.  Le  Due  de  Berwick.  This  has  been  declared  by  all 
the  culprits,  under  the  torture,  and  on  the  scaffold."  "^^  The 
executioner  of  the  Protestants  of  the  South,who  thus  cast  upon 
another  the  odious  responsibility  of  his  own  crimes,  demanded, 
besides,  the  extradition  of  another  refugee,  who  was  dangerous 

*  These  two  letters  were  placed  under  the  eyes  of  the  Council  by 
the  Resident  De  la  Closure.  They  are  dated  from  Montpellier,  the  15tt 
and  17  th  of  May,  l^Oo.     Archives  of  Geneva,  No.  4097. 


QUESTION    OF    NEUFCHATEL.  199 

to  the  King's  person,  Flottard  of  Languedoc,  a  bold  and 
enterprising  man,  who,  after  having  abandoned  his  country 
for  religion's  sake,  entered  as  an  officer  into  the  English 
army,  at  the  same  time  with  his  fellow-adventurer,  Cavalier. 
Beiiig  sent  to  Switzerland  to  make  levies  in  favor  of  the  coa- 
lition, he  was  suspected  by  Baville  of  holding  the  clue  to 
all  the  intrigues,  which  had  been  woven  for  the  purpose  of 
maintaining  the  war  in  the  Cevennes.  The  council,  upon  the 
pressing  demands  of  La  Closure,  in  fact,  ordered  his  arrest ; 
but  it  left  him  time  to  escape,  and  withdraw  to  Lausanne, 
where  his  rank  as  a  British  officer,  and  the  mediation  of  Stan- 
ian,  the  English  envoy,  sheltered  him  from  fresh  pursuit. 

The  question  of  Neufchatel  caused  the  old  resentments  of 
the  refugees  to  break  out  anew,  against  Louis  XIV.,  and  the 
solution  that  it  received  was  partly  their  work. 

If  William  III.,  King  of  England,  had  been  still  alive 
at  the  commencement  of  the  succession  of  the  counties  of 
Neufchatel  and  Valengin,  he  would  have  used  every  en- 
deavor to  form  a  fourth  canton  of  them,  and  incorpo- 
rate it  into  the  Helvetic  League,  in  order  to  assure  the 
majority,  in  the  general  diets,  to  the  Protestant  party,  and 
thus  diminish  the  influence  of  France,  and  of  the  Catholic  can- 
tons, which  were  devoted  to  that  cause.  At  this  price,  he 
would  have  abandoned  his  personal  pretensions  to  that  state, 
for  which  he  would  have  procured  entire  independence.  His 
death  transferred  all  the  rights  of  the  House  of  Nassau  to 
that  of  Brandenburgh,  which  profited  by  them  in  1707,  after 
the  decease  of  Marie  d' Orleans,  Duchess  of  Nemours.  When 
the  Prince  de  Conti,  the  Prince  of  Savoy- Carignan,  and 
many  other  great  families  of  France  and  Germany,  raised 
pretensions  to  the  same  inheritance,  the  religious  hatred  of 
the  Protestant  population  of  Switzerland  against  the  House 
of  Bourbon,  their  sympathy  for  the  refugees,  who  manifested 
the  utmost  alarm,  and  the  energetic  attitude  of  Berne,  which 
immediately  took  Neufchatel  under  its  special  protection, 


200  FRENCH   PROTESTANT    REFUGEES 

removed  at  once  every  chance  from  the  Prince  de  Conti, 
whom  Louis  XIV.  supported  with  all  his  influence.  A 
regularly  convoked  assembly  tendered  the  sovereignty 
to  Frederic  I.,  notwithstanding  the  threats  of  the  French 
ambassador,  who  had  hastened  in  person  to  Neufchatel. 
The  dispute  which  ensued  in  that  town  was,  according 
to  the  expression  of  Lamberty,  "  more  noisy  than  thun- 
der."* The  French  envoy  declared  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Neufchatel,  that  their  ruin  would  lie  at  their  own  doors ; 
that  the  King,  his  master,  would  show  his  resentment  for 
their  bad  conduct  even  toward  their  posterity  ;  and  that  there 
should  not  be  a  corner  of  the  earth  where  they  might  find 
shelter  from  his  wrath. f  When  Louis  XIY.,  profoundly 
wounded  at  the  preference  shown  to  Frederic,  concentrated 
troops  at  Huningen  and  Besancon,  the  Bernese  jDrepared  to 
resist  with  energy,  and  Neufchatel,  in  its  turn,  levied  ten 
companies  of  a  hundred  and  ten  men  each,  composed  of  Swiss 
and  refugee  volunteers.  The  Protestant  cantons,  with  the 
exception  of  Bale,  which  was  commanded  by  the  cannon  of 
Huningen,  and  terrified  by  the  threat  of  an  immediate  bom- 
bardment, armed  their  militia.  The  coalized  powers  prom- 
ised their  support.  The  English  ambassador,  Stanian,  wrote 
to  the  three  states  of  Neufchatel  and  Yalengin  :  "If  France 
dares  to  make  such  threats,  at  a  time  like  this,  when  she 
dares  not  touch  the  least  of  your  farms,  for  fear  of  adding 
to  the  enemies,  which  already  attack  her,  new  strength  which 
would  finish  her  destruction — what  have  you  not  to  expect  ( 
from  her  despotism,  if  you  do  not  take  sure  measures  to  jn'e- 
serve  yourselves  against  the  attempts,  which  you  have  to  fear, 
when  she  shall  be  disembarrassed  from  the  present  war? 
The  violation  of  all  your  privileges,  a  slavery  like  that  which 
all  the  other  Frenchmen  suffered,  and  which,  to  men  of 
spirit,  is  harder  than  death  itself,  an  overthrow  of  our  holy 
religion,  and  a  dragooning  like  that  which  was  practised  in 

*  Lamberty,  vol.  iv.  p.  523.  ~f  Ibid. 


TREATIES  OF  BADEN  AND  RASTADT.         201 

France,  contrary  to  the  faith  of  the  most  solemn  treaties 

these  are  the  evils  which  France  is  preparing  for  you,  if  the 
threats  of  that  power,  and  the  caresses  of  pretended  French- 
men, involve  you  among  the  precipices  whence  we  are  seek- 
ing to  rescue  you."  *  Every  day  an  attack  was  expected 
from  the  French  army,  the  soldiers  of  which  launched  forth 
into  abuse  against  that  population  of  peasants,  which  dared 
to  resist  the  great  King.  The  militia  of  Berne  and  Neuf- 
chatel,  excited  by  their  chiefs,  by  the  refugees,  and  the  min- 
isters of  the  religion,  who  represented  the  King  of  Prussia 
as  the  defender  of  the  Grospel,  and  Louis  XIV.  as  the  instru- 
ment of  the  Jesuits,  burned  to  come  to  blows  with  the  enemy. 
"  How  truly  I  should  like  to  see  Neufchatel  assailed  !  "  boast- 
fully wrote  the  Waldense  general,  De  Saint-Saphorin  ;  "  we 
should  invade  Franche  Comte."  At  war  with  the  whole  of  Eu- 
rope, and  fearing  beside  to  expose  to  attack  a  province  as  yet 
but  slightly  French,  which  yet  regretted  its  ancient  privileges, 
the  King  was  obliged  to  leave  unrevenged  the  affront  which 
he  had  received,  and  renounce  all  his  pretensions.  He  re- 
cognized the  neutrality  of  Neufchatel,  while  he  admitted,  by 
the  treaties  of  Baden  and  Rastadt,  the  sovereignty  of  the 
King  of  Prussia  over  that  little  state.  That  pacific  resolu- 
tion, after  the  haughtiest  menaces,  caused  Berne  to  grow  in 
public  opinion,  and  excited  the  greatest  enthusiasm  in  the 
evangelical  cantons,  who  believed  that  they  had  thus  re- 
venged the  refugees  upon  their  cruel  persecutors.  The  prin- 
cipality of  Neufchatel  was  afterward  ruled  by  governors, 
almost  all  of  whom  the  Kings  of  Prussia,  through  an  ably 
calculated  policy,  chose  from  the  body  of  the  emigrant 
nobility. 

The  Marcjuis  de  Puisieux,  little  flattered  by  the  part 
which  his  court  had  made  him  play,  demanded  and  obtained 
his  recall.  The  Count  de  Saint  Luc,  who  succeeded  him, 
undertook  to  repair  the  check  sustained  by  France,  by  reviv- 

*  Laraberty,  vol.  iv.  p.  515. 
VOL.    11. — 9* 


202  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES 

ing  the  ancient  enmities  between  the  Catholics  and  Protes- 
tants. Counting  npon  the  support  of  Louis  XIV.,  the  Abbe 
de  Saint  Grall  believed  himself  sufficiently  strong  to  take 
away,  from  his  reformed  subjects  of  Toggenburg,  the  liber- 
ties of  which  they  had  been  possessed  up  to  that  time,  and 
which  dated  back  to  the  dominion  of  the  Counts,  their  an- 
cient sovereigns.  A  great  excitement  immediately  manifest- 
ed itself  in  the  evangelical  Cantons.  From  all  the  pulpits  of 
Berne,  Zurich,  Greneva,  Neufchatel,  and  Lausanne,  pra^'ers 
arose  for  the  people  of  Toggenburg,  thenceforth  exposed  to 
the  unjust  persecutions,  which  the  Calvinists  had  endured  in 
France  after  the  revocation.  When  the  excess  of  oppression 
caused  the  revolt  of  1712  to  break  out,  Berne  and  Zurich 
hastened  to  make  common  cause  with  the  rebels,  while  the 
Catholic  Cantons  declared  for  the  Abbe  de  Saint  Gall.  In 
that  new  conflict  which  replunged  Switzerland  into  civil  war, 
the  refugees  took  up  arms,  and  nobly  paid  with  their  blood 
for  the  hospitality  they  had  received.  They  fought  in  the  ranks 
of  the  Bernese  army,  with  tliat  cool  resolution  which  they 
had  so  often  shown  upon  the  field  of  battle,  and  their  heroic 
devotion  contributed  to  the  happy  issue  of  the  day  of  Vill- 
mergeu,  which  constrained  the  five  Cantons  to  sign  the 
Peace  of  Aran.  Thus,  that  time  again,  they  aided  in  the 
triumph  of  the  religious  principle,  for  which  they  had  suf- 
ered.  The  Abbe  de  Saint  G-all  lost  his  rights  over  Toggen- 
burg, Berne,  and  Zurich,  by  acquiring  the  sovereignty  of 
an  uninterrupted  line  of  territory,  which  extended  from 
the  lake  of  Geneva  to  that  of  Constance,  insured  communi- 
cations between  the  Protestant  Cantons,  and  afterward  easily 
held  in  check  the  Catholic  Cantons,  separated  one  from 
the  other,  and  enfeebled  by  the  losses  which  they  had  ex- 
periencjed.  When  in  1742,  the  Infant  Don  Philip,  at  the 
head  of  a  Spanish  army,  penetrated  from  Italy  into  Savoy, 
and  made  himself  master  of  Chambory  ;  and  Switzerland, 
alarmed  at  his  vicinity,  ordered   preparations,  to  make   its 


FRENCH    COMPANIES.  203 

neutrality  respected,  the  refugees  unanimously  offered  their 
services,  and  the  Infant  was  forced  to  renounce  his  project 
of  traversing  the  territory  of  the  Confederation.  During 
the  seditious  movements  which  broke  out  in  Berne,  in  1749, 
the  council  immediately  had  recourse  to  the  emigrants  who 
formed  the  colony  of  that  town,  and  made  them  take  arms 
for  the  maintenance  of  public  tranquillity.  They  were  di- 
vided, at  that  juncture,  into  three  companies  of  twenty-six 
men  each.  During  the  troubles  at  Neufchatel,  in  1 768,  they 
showed  the  same  ardor  in  the  accomplishment  of  their  civic 
duties.  In  conclusion,  to  the  present  time  their  descend- 
ants, whether  as  officers  or  soldiers,  have  not  ceased  to  show 
themselves  worthy  of  the  examples  of  disinterested  patriot- 
ism and  brilliant  valor,  exhibited  by  their  ancestors. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

ox  THE  rNTLTTEXCE  OF  THE  REFUGEES  OX  LITEEATFEE  AXD  THE  AETS. 

Purification  of  the  French  Language  in  Komanish  Switzerland — Progress  of  m-ba- 
nity  in  manners — Propagation  of  the  doctrine  of  free  examination  in  Lausanne 
— ^Barbeyrac — The  painter  Jean  Petilot — Antoine  Arlaud — Trouillon,  the  phy- 
sician— The  two  Le  Sages — Abauzit — Literary  and  religious  influence  of  the 
refugee  ministers — Their  relations  with  the  Protestants  of  the  South. — Martyrdom 
of  Brousson— Peyrol — Antoine  Court — Eeorganization  of  the  French  Churches — 
Eelations  of  the  Court  with  the  Eegent — His  retreat  to  Lausanne  (1729)— Origin 
of  the  Seminary  of  Lausanne — Silent  Protection  of  Berne — Court  of  Gebelin — Paul 
Eabaut — Eabaut  Saint-Etienne. 

The  presence  of  tlie  refugees  did  not  only  contribute  to 
the  military  defence  of  Protestant  Switzerland,  and  to  the 
progress  of  agriculture,  manufactures,  and  commerce,  it  pro- 
duced besides,  at  the  end  of  a  few  years,  a  remarkable 
change  in  the  habits,  and  even  in  the  language  of  most  of  the 
towns  of  the  Pays  de  Vaud  and  the  Grenevese  Republic,  The 
rude  and  coarse  French  of  those  countries  became  purified  by 
the  contact  of  these  men,  who  brought  into  their  new  country, 
along  with  the  classic  masterpieces  of  the  literature  of  the 
great  century,  the  improved  dialect  which  prevailed  in  the 
kingdom  of  Louis  XI Y.  From  the  year  1703,  the  public 
officers  of  Greneva  received  orders  to  compile  in  good  French 
the  publications  which  they  had,  until  that  time,  made  in  a 
style  filled  with  expressions  borrowed  from  the  patois  of  the 
country.*  At  Lausanne,  also,  the  more  correct  and  more 
cultivated  language  which  the  refugees  spoke,  prevailed  over 

*  Picot.    History  of  Geneva,  vol.  iii.  p.  ISl. 


COURTS    OF    LOVE.  205 

the  Romanish  French,  and  all  the  Pays  de   Vaiid  shared 
in  that  happy  influence. 

The  noble  families  who  took  part  in  the  emigration  every 
where  introduced  that  elegance  of  manners  and  that  urbanity, 
which  distinguished  the  French  society  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  which  foreigners  were  pleased  to  recognize  in 
the  following  century,  in  the  society  of  Geneva  and  Lau- 
sanne. At  Berne,  even,  where  the  German  language  and 
habits  exclusively  predominated,  the  French  exiles  did  not 
only  introduce  their  refined  language  and  exquisite  man- 
ners into  the  highest  circles,  but  they  also  resuscitated  the  an- 
cient usages  of  French  gallantry,  and  even  those  famous  courts 
of  love  of  the  chivalric  ages  which  the  France  of  Louis  XIV. 
had  herself  forgotten.*  The  interest  of  party  didnot  then  alone 
determine  the  good  reception  which  they  received  in  those 
three  cities.  They  sought  them  not  only  as  persecuted  breth- 
ren, or  skilful  cultivators  and  renowned  manufacturers,  but 
also  as  men  belonging  to  that  great  nation  which  gave  the 
tone  to  the  whole  of  Europe ;  amiable  and  polished  men,  who 
knew  how  to  talk,  write,  and  even  to  dispute  with  grace  and 
judgment.  We  may  judge  of  the  peculiar  character  of  the 
refugees  of  that  epoch,  by  the  relation  of  a  "  Voyage  in 
Switzerland,"  composed  by  two  among  them,  Reboulet  and 
Labrune.f  It  contains  a  series  of  letters,  in  which  the  na- 
ture of  sites,  and  anecdotes  of  society,  manners,  and  history, 
occupy  infinitely  more  space  than  political  considerations  or 
religious  polemics.  The  tourists  set  out  from  Geneva,  and 
embarked  upon  the  lake.  "  Our  friends,"  say  they,  "procured 
us  a  boat,  in  which  we  were  as  comfortable  as  it  was  pos- 
sible to  be.  The  day  was  fine,  and  our  company  was  so  well 
chosen,  that  nothing  could  have  been  more  agreeable  than 
the  conversation  we  had  upon  an  infinity  of  subjects.  There 
were  none  but  our  boatmen  whom  the  calm  did  not  please. 

*  Olivier.    History  of  the  Canton  de  Vand,  vol.  ii.  1181,  Note. 
I  Reboulet  and  Labrune.  Travels  in  Switzerland.  The  Hague,  1686. 


206  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

They  were  obliged  to  row.     It  was  only,  however,  for  four 
hours  ;  for  we  stopped  at  Nyon,  whence  we  do  not  depart 
until  the  morrow."     They  stop  at  Rolle  ;   "  a  lovely  village, 
which  many  towns  do  not  equal  in  beauty  ;  its  situation  is 
enchanting."     At  Morges,  where  they  disembarked  to  take 
carriage   for  Lausanne,  they  felicitate  themselves  upon  the 
reception  which  is  given  them  by  the  bailiff.     "  It  would  be 
impossible  to  see  any  more  accomplished  people,  or  of  better 
regulated  minds,   or   more    agreeable    manners,   than  that 
gentleman."      Having    arrived  at  Lausanne,   they  visit  the 
cathedral  :  '•  You  have  heard  that  church  spoken  of;  noth- 
ing can  be  more  magnificent — so  many  columns  were  never 
seen.     We  were  tired  of  counting  them.   .  .   .   The  temple 
of  Saint  Francis  is  pretty."     At   Morat,  the   mementoes  of 
the  defeat  of  Charles  the  Bold,  and  the  famous  Ossuary  fix 
their  attention.     At  Berne,  they  visit  all  the  learned  men 
and  persons  of  quality,  and   all  the   world   in   general  was 
eager  to  show  them   every  civility.      The  two   friends  thus 
travelled  through  Zurich,    Baden,    and    Neufchatel,    every 
where  meeting  with  the  kindest  reception;   responding  to 
that  hospitality  in  the  most  cordial  manner ;  speaking  not  too 
much  of  "  their  dear  churches  ;  "  making  inquiries  with  regard 
to  sermons  and  theology,  for  they  were  ministers  ;    but  none 
the  less  ready  on  that  account  to  join  in  conversation   on 
other  subjects.     It  is  certain,  then,  that  the  exiled  pastors, 
like  the  exiled  laymen,  furnished  their  part  to  those  elegant 
and  joyous  reunions  which  at   that  time  constituted  good 
society.     To  the  scholars   of  the  sixteenth  century,  whose 
coarseness  must  be  admitted,  there  had  succeeded  in  France 
a  generation  no  less  learned,  whose  manners  were  more  gen- 
teel,  and   stamped  with    more    delicate    taste.       Bomanish 
Switzerland  became  impregnated,  in  its  turn,  with  that  new 
spirit  which  the   refugees  introduced,  and  whose  tradition  is 
perpetuated  to  our  days. 

When   the    feeble    bond    which   united    the    Protestant 


LIBEPwTY    OF    OPINION. 


207 


cturches  among  themselves  was  broken  by  the  irresistible 
action  of  free  examination,  which    overthrew  the  barriers 
erected  by  the  first  reformers  against  the  future ;  when  the 
Christian  institution  of  Calvin,  the  Confession  of  Augsburg, 
the  Helvetic  Confession,  the  proclamation  of  the  synods,  and 
soon  even  the  texts  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  were  submitted  to 
the  control  of  reason,  Bomanish  Switzerland,  through  pref- 
erence, attached  herself  to  the  doctrhies  of  the  ancient  school 
of  Saumur  ;  to  Cappel,  who  applied  the  rules  of  historical  and 
grammatical  criticism  to  the  Bible  ;  to  La  Place,  who  ex- 
plained   the    original   sin  by   the  hereditary  corruption  of 
generations  ;  to  Amyrault,  who  sought  among  the  mysterious 
doctrines  of  grace  and  predestination,  a  middle  path  which 
might  at  the  same  time  satisfy  faith  and  reason.    A  great  num- 
ber of  refugees  showed  themselves  favorable  to  that  new  ten- 
dency, notwithstanding  the  accusation  of  free  thinking  and  So- 
cinianism  with  which  they  were  reproached  by  their  adversa- 
ries.   When  the  Senate  of  Berne,  alarmed  at  those  inevitable 
dissensions  in  the  bosom  of  the  "  reform,"  wished  to  impose 
upon  all  its  subjects  an  "  oath  of  conformity,"  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  members  of  the  emigration,  the  celebrated 
Barbeyrac,  the  former  rector  of  the  Academy  of  Lausanne, 
who    had   left   that  town  to  take  the  law  professorship  at 
Grroningen,  publicly  declared  himself  in  favor  of  the  great 
principle    of  religious  liberty.     He  wrote,  in   1718,  to  his 
friend  Sinner,  the  former  bailiff  of  Lausanne  : 

"  Their  Excellencies  should  remark  that  every  where,  in 
England,  in  Holland,  and  in  Germany,  the  authorities  and 
private  persons  assume  more  and  more  the  spirit  of  toleration, 
or  rather  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  which  the  ecclesiastics 
wish  to  stifle,  in  order  to  reign  themselves  over  their  con- 
sciences.. .  .  The  minds  of  men  have  begun  to  gain  enlighten- 
ment and  to  become  softened,  in  Switzerland  as  well  as  else- 
where; and  any  attempt  to  bring  back  restraint  would  be 
either  to  run  the  risk  of  some  great  revolution,  or,  at  least, 


208  FRENCH    PE.OTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

to  make  men  hypocrites  and  perjured.  I  shudder,  when  I 
think  on  the  sad  results  which  a  sovereign  decree  would  have, 
which  should  give  success  to  the  cause  of  ecclesiastical  mis- 
chief makers.  ...  By  wishing  to  establish  a  perfect 
uniformity  of  sentiments,  they  are  about  to  multiply  the 
number  of  dissenters.  The  best  mode  of  reconciling  as  much 
as  possible  the  minds  of  men,  is  to  leave  to  each  perfect 
liberty  to  follow  the  lights  of  his  own  conscience :  it  is 
the  right  as  well  as  the  general  obligation  of  all  men.  I  con- 
jure you,  sir,  by  every  thing  most  sacred,  by  the  interest  of 
your  country,  by  your  own  glory,  and  more  still  by  your  solid 
and  enlightened  piety,  to  employ  all  your  credit  to  maintain 
the  rights  of  toleration  and  Christian  liberty.  ..." 

The  Senate  of  Berne  persisted  in  its  system  of  Protestant 
orthodoxy,  but  the  rigorous  measures  to  which  it  believed  it- 
self authorized  to  have  recourse  against  its  adversaries,  only 
succeeded  in  destroying  in  the  Pays  de  Vaud  that  spirit, 
liberal  and  truly  in  conformity  with  reason,  which  Barbeyrac 
and  many  of  his  companions  in  exile  had  caused  to  grow  up 
there,  and  which  they  had  afterward  so  energetically  de- 
fended. 

If  Bomanish  Switzerland  owed  to  the  refugees  superior 
politeness,  more  elegant  manners,  and  the  unappreciable 
benefit  of  a  first  claim  to  religious  liberty,  she  had  no  less  to 
felicitate  herself  on  their  happy  influence  upon  the  progress 
of  the  arts,  science,  and  literature. 

The  Genevese  painter,  Jean  Petitot,  had  passed  his  youth 
in  England.  After  the  death  of  Charles  I.,  he  came  to 
France,  and  was  lodged  in  the  Louvre  by  Louis  XIV.,  who 
ordered  him  to  paint  his  portrait  and  that  of  the  Queen. 
Petitot  had  brought  the  art  of  painting  in  enamel  to  such  a 
degree  of  perfection,  that  the  celebrated  Van  D3^ke  wished 
to  be  able  to  achieve  many  works  of  which  he  has  left  but 
sketches.  Aided  by  a  learned  chemist,  he  had  discovered 
the  secret  of  a  color  of  most  marvellous  brilliancy.      After 


JEAN    PETITOT.  209 

the  revocation  he  was  imprisoned  at  For-l'Eveque,  for  having 
refused  to  abjure  his  faith.  He  was  then  seventj-eight 
years  of  age.  When  he  was  set  at  liberty,  he  returned  to 
Geneva,  and  died  at  Vevay  in  1691,  after  having  brought 
back  to  his  native  country  the  treasures  of  experience  which 
he  had  acquired  in  foreign  lands.* 

Another  Genevese  painter,  Jacques- Antoine  Arlaud, 
born  in  1688,  likewise  returned  to  his  native  town,  after  hav- 
ing passed  part  of  his  life  in  France,  and  acquired  a  merited 
reputation  by  the  exquisite  beauty  of  his  coloring.  The 
Duke  of  Orleans,  who  was  afterward  regent,  said  of  the 
miniatures  of  Arlaud  :  "  Painters  in  this  style  have  made 
hitherto  only  likenesses ;  Arlaud  has  taught  them  to  make 
portraits."! 

The  science  of  medicine  was  improved  in  Switzerland  by 
the  refugee  Trouillon,  whom  Saint  Simon  classes  among 
the  most  skilful  physicians  of  his  time.  When  the  Prince 
of  Conti,  who  had  scarcely  reached  the  age  of  forty-five 
years,  felt  himself  near  death,  he  obtained  permission  from 
the  government  to  call  him  from  his  place  of  banishment  to 
Paris.     But  the  learned  exile  arrived  too  late  to  save  him.  if 

The  refugee  Le  Sage,  who  was  born  in  Conches,  in  Bur- 
gundy, and  died  at  Geneva,  in  1759,  inspired  the  taste  for 
philosophy  in  his  numerous  disciples,  and  published  many 
works,  which  were  much  esteemed  by  his  contemporaries. 
His  son  was  born  at  Geneva,  in  1 724,  and  who  was  admitted 
to  the  right  of  citizenship  in  1770,  distinguished  himself  by 
happy  investigations  into  many  branches  of  mathematics. 
He  became  a  corresponding  member  of  the  Academy  of 
Science  at  Paris,  and  that  of  Rouen  decreed  to  him  a  prize 
for  his  memoir  on  chemical  affinities.  § 

*  Erman  and  Reclam,  vol.  iv.  p.  232.  f  Ibid.  p.  233. 

I  Memoirs  of  Saint  Simon,  chap.  ccxx.  vol.  xii.  p.  211.  Edition 
of  1842. 

§  Literary  History  of  Geneva^  by  Jean  Senebier,  vol.  iii.  pp.  153, 
and  200. 


210  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

Anotter  emigrant,  the  antique  type  of  whose  character 
excited  even  the  admiration  of  Voltaire  and  Rousseau, 
Abauzit,  of  Uzes,  astonished  his  adopted  country  by  the  pro- 
fundity and  universality  of  his  genius.  Descended,  as  they 
say,  from  an  Arab  physician  of  the  middle  ages,  he  was, 
after  the  revocation,  torn,  while  still  a  child,  from  his  mother, 
who  was  a  Protestant,  and  placed  in  a  Catholic  college. 
She  succeeded,  however,  in  withdrawing  him  from  it,  and 
enabled  him  to  escape  to  Geneva.  The  executioners  of 
Languedoc  punished  her  for  it,  by  throwing  her  into  a  dun- 
geon ;  but  the  sudden  decay  of  her  health  having  caused 
them  to  set  her  at  liberty,  she  rejoined  her  son  in  the  land 
of  exile ;  and,  as  long  as  she  lived  near  him,  she  did  not  cease 
to  give  him  the  example  of  the  purest  life,  and  to  repeat  to 
him,  in  her  discourses,  that  happiness  did  not  consist  in 
riches  or  pleasures,  but  that  it  was  the  certain  fruit  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  the  practice  of  virtue.  His 
studies  being  finished,  Abauzit  went  to  travel  in  Holland, 
in  1696.  That  free  country  which  had  given  an  asylum  to 
so  many  banished  Frenchmen,  had  for  him  a  singular  attrac- 
tion. He  sojourned  there  a  long  time,  in  the  society  of 
Bayle,  Basnage,  and  Jurieu.  In  London  he  saw  Saint  Ev- 
remond,  that  refugee  philosopher,  whose  house  was  always 
open  to  the  eminent  men  of  the  religious  emigration,  and 
Newton,  who  appreciated  him  so  highly,  that  he  sent  him  his 
"  Commercium  Epistolicum,"  with  these  words,  "  You  are 
well  worthy  to  decide  between  Leibnitz  and  me."  King 
William  made  him  brilliant  offers,  in  order  to  retain  him  in 
England,  but  his  mother  recalled  him  to  Geneva,  and  he  did 
not  delay  to  return  thither. 

M.  Villemain  has  characterized  with  exquisite  tact,  that 
rather  eccentric  thinker,  whom  Rousseau  compared  to  Soc- 
rates, but  who  was  wrong  in  only  communicating  his  science 
and  wisdom  to  a  few  persons,  who  were  admitted  to  his  in- 
timate confidence.     "  Those  first  fruits  of  persecution,"  says 


ABAUZIT. 


211 


he,  "  should  have  inspired  in  the  young  man  the  spirit  of 
toleration  and  liberty,  at  the  same  time  that  the  great  varie- 
ty of  his  studies  inclined  him  towards  free-thinking."  But 
he  remained  no  less  religious.  He  took  part  in  the  French 
translation  of  the  Gospel,  which  was  published  at  Geneva ; 
and,  during  the  course  of  his  long  life,  he  never  ceased  to 
occupy  himself  with  theology  and  sacred  criticism.  Nothing 
in  his  works,  bears  the  character  of  skepticism.  Charity 
prevails  in  them  more  than  dogmatism,  and  his  language, 
though  often  strong  in  defence  of  his  persuasion,  was  far  re- 
moved from  any  thing  approaching  to  anti-christian  polem- 
ics. Voltaire  has  named  him  somewhere  the  "  chief  of  the 
Arians  of  Geneva ; "  and  he  appears  in  fact,  to  incline  to  the 
opinions  of  the  Unitarians  :  but  with  what  reserve,  and  what 
religious  gravity  !  His  two  writings,  "  On  the  Knowledge 
of  Christ,"  and,  "  On  the  Honor  which  is  due  to  Him,"  have 
inspired  the  fine  pages,  which  in  the  profession  of  faith  of  the 
"  Savoyard  Vicar,"  so  greatly  shocked  Voltaire,  as  incon- 
clusive, and  a  disavowal  of  incredulity. 

"  Admirable,"  he  adds,  "  in  the  modesty  and  simplicity 
of  his  manners,  and  possessing  his  soul  in  peace  until  the 
age  of  eighty-eight  years,  Abauzit  was,  at  Geneva,  the  true 
and  silent  model  of  that  philosophic  Christianity  of  which 
Rousseau  became  for  the  moment  the  incomparable  ora- 
tor." * 

It  is  above  all,  in  the  letters  of  Abauzit  to  Mairan,  that 
the  rare  penetration  of  his  mind  can  be  appreciated.  It  will 
be  sufficient  for  us,  in  order  to  mark  its  profundity,  to  recall 
to  mind  that  he  occupied  himself  with  Saint  Gravesend  in 
the  solution  of  divers  problems  in  mathematics  and  natural 
philosophy  ;  that  he  detected  a  mistake  which  had  escaped 
Newton  in  his'  book  on  "  Mathematical  Principles,"  when, 
perhaps,  there  were  not  thirty  persons  in  Europe  capable  of 

*  M.  Villemahi.  Literature  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  ii. 
pp.  106,  107.     Edition  of  1846. 


212  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

comprehending  them,  and  that  Newton  corrected  his  error 
in  the  second  edition  of  his  work  ;  that  he  was  one  of  the 
first  to  adopt  the  new  ideas,  and  ]3roclaim  the  marvellous 
discoveries  of  that  bold  innovator,  because  he  was  a  sufii- 
ciently  great  geometrician  to  seize  upon  their  truth,  and 
divine  their  ultimate  bearings. 

The  extraordinary  impression  that  he  produced  upon  his 
fellow-citizens  seems  to  be  fully  represented  by  the  following 
appreciatory  notice  of  his  contemporary  Senebier  :  "  Great 
wrong  would  be  done  to  Abauzit,"  says  he,  "  in  judging  him 
solely  by  the  writings  which  have  been  published  in  his  post- 
humous works.  He  did  not  desire  that  any  of  them  should 
see  the  light  of  day.  He  thought  so  little  of  them  that  he 
never  asked  them  back  when  he  had  lent  them,  and  did  not 
fear  to  burn  them,  when  he  had  them  under  his  hand.  Those 
alone  can  form  a  just  idea  of  the  great  merit  of  Abauzit,  who 
knew  him  personally.  They  alone  can  note  the  precision  and 
justice  of  his  ideas,  the  extent  of  his  views,  and  the  solidity 
of  his  judgments.  Abauzit  knew  many  languages  perfectly ; 
he  had  searched  into  ancient  and  modern  history ;  he  was  one 
of  the  most  scrupulous  geographers ;  he  corrected  all  the 
charts  in  his  atlas,  and  the  celebrated  Pocock  believed  that 
Abauzit  like  himself  had  travelled  in  Egypt,  from  the  exact 
description  which  he  gave  him  of  that  distant  country.  He 
had  equally  prosecuted  the  study  of  geometry,  and  even  the 
most  profound  portions  of  mathematics.  He  joined  to  this 
the  most  intimate  acquaintance  with  natural  philosophy.  In 
conclusion,  he  was  extremely  well  versed  in  the  knowledge 
of  medals  and  manuscripts.  All  these  different  sciences  were 
so  disposed  in  his  mind,  that  in  one  instant,  he  could  assem- 
ble every  thing  most  interesting  in  any  one  of  them.  Be- 
hold a  remarkable  example  of  this :  Jlousseau  was  working 
at  his  dictionary  of  music  ;  he  had  occupied  himself  in  par- 
ticular with  the  music  of  the  ancients,  and  he  had  just  fin- 
ished making  very  laborious  researches  upon  that  subject, 


CLASSES    OF    REFUGEES.  213 

which  he  believed  to  he  complete.  He  spoke  on  the  subject 
to  Abauzit,  who  gave  him  a  faithful  and  luminous  account  of 
all  which  he  himself  had  learned  through  long  and  hard  study, 
and  discovered  many  things  to  him  of  which  he  was  before 
ignorant.  Rousseau  believed  that  Abauzit  was  at  that  time 
occupying  himself  with  the  study  of  ancient  music  ;  but  that 
man,  who  knew  so  many  things,  and  who  had  never  forgotten 
any  thing,  artlessly  told  him  that  it  was  thirty  years  since 
he  had  studied  that  matter. 

"  One  could  not  know  Abauzit  without  being  profoundly 
penetrated  with  respect  for  his  universal  and  modest  science, 
and  it  is  without  doubt  the  great  impression  which  he  made 
upon  Rousseau,  which  persuaded  the  latter  to  address  to  him 
the  only  eulogy  which  he  ever  made  upon  a  living  man,  but 
at  the  same  time  the  finest  and  best  merited  of  eulogies."  * 

It  remains  for  us  to  prove  the  influence  at  once  literary 
and  religious,  which  the  numerous  ministers  exercised  who 
had  established  themselves  at  Greneva,  at  Lausanne,  and  in 
the  other  towns  of  French  Switzerland.  The  action  of  those 
martyrs  of  the  faith  more  than  once  crossed  the  narrow  lim- 
its of  the  country  which  served  as  an  asylum  to  them.  It 
often  extended  itself  over  the  neighboring  provinces  of 
France,  and  even  over  all  the  Protestant  society  in  the  south 
of  that  kingdom  ;  so  that  that  little  corner  of  the  earth  be- 
came a  real  obstacle  to  the  definitive  establishment  of  the 
odious  administration  inaugurated  by  the  act  of  the  revoca- 
tion. Three  classes  of  refugees  succeeded  each  other  during 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years  in  the  Pays  de  Vaud  and  the  neigh- 
boring Cantons, — the  religious  refugees  of  the  time  of  Louis 
XIV.,  the  literary  refugees  of  that  of  Louis  XV.,  and  the  po- 
litical refugees  of  the  contemporaneous  epoch.  Each  strove 
in  its  turn  to  react,  by  their  writings  and  actions,  upon  the 
country  which  had  rejected  them  from  its  bosom.     The  part 

*  Jean  Senebier,  Literary  History  of  Geneva,  vol.  iii.  p  63.  sq. 
Geneva,  1786. 


214  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

of  tlie  first  is  the  only  one  which  enters  into  the  scope  of 
the  history  we  are  endeavoring  to  sketch. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1685,  more  than  two  hundred 
pastors  had  retired  to  Switzerland.  About  eighty  of  them 
could  be  counted  in  the  town  of  Lausanne  alone.*  But  from 
the  depth  of  their  exile  they  did  not  cease  to  correspond 
with  their  former  flocks.  They  often  returned  secretly  to 
France  to  confirm  them  in  their  attachment  to  the  reform. 
They  preached  to  the  assemblages  in  the  desert,  gave  the 
sacraments,  and  blessed  marriages,  at  the  risk  of  encounter- 
ing death  in  the  midst  of  those  faithful  people  to  whom  they 
brought  the  word  of  life.  The  minister,  Claude  Brousson, 
having  thus  furtively  re-entered  Nimes,  in  1698,  was  taken, 
judged  in  conformity  with  the  edicts,  and  hung.  His  col- 
league, Peyrol,  was  preaching  at  Geneva  when  the  fatal  news 
was  announced  to  him.  He  informed  his  audience  of  it,  and 
accused  himself  before  it  of  weakness,  in  having  abandoned 
a  post,  while  guarding  which  Brousson  had  found  a  Chris- 
tian's death.  His  emotion  was  so  lively,  and  his  grief  so 
profound,  that  after  descending  from  the  pulpit,  he  took  to 
his  bed  and  never  rose  from  it  again. f 

But  little  by  little,  the  Protestants  who  were  dispersed 
throughout  Languedoc  and  the  neighboring  provinces,  were 
visited  more  rarely  by  their  former  pastors.  They  continued 
however  to  meet  in  the  midst  of  forests  and  mountains,  and 
in  immense  caverns,  far  from  inhabited  places,  and  oftenest 
under  cover  of  the  night.  That  silence,  that  mystery,  those 
torches,  whose  flickering  light  lengthened  the  shadows  of  the 
faithful,  those  lugubrious  and  plaintive  chants,  solely  inter- 
rupted by  the  solemn  reading  of  the  Bible,  or  by  the  cries 
of  the  sentinels  at  the  approach  of  the  soldiers,  filled  every 
heart  with  a  religious  terror.     Soon  the  over-excited  imagi- 

*  Erman  and  Reclam,  vol.  i.  p.  192. 

f  Historical  notice  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Nimes,  by  Borrel, 
p.  26.     Tsimes,  1837. 


ANTOINE    COURT.  215 

nations  of  those  ardent  people  transformed  itself  into  exalta- 
tion and  delirium.  Visionaries,  who  believed  themselves 
inspired  of  God,  and  endowed  with  the  faculty  of  foresee- 
ing the  future,  and  doubtless  also  impostors  who  played  the 
part  of  enthusiasts,  appeared  in  those  nocturnal  assemblies, 
preaching  and  prophesying  turn  by  turn,  and  sometimes  mak- 
ing heard  their  sinister  appeals  to  revolt.  The  armies  of 
Louis  XIV.  had  repressed  the  insurrection  of  the  Camisards, 
but  a  sombre  fanaticism  had  seized  upon  their  minds,  and 
the  purity  of  the  Protestant  doctrine  in  the  Cevennes  would 
have  been  perhaps  destroyed,  when  a  young  man,  walking  in 
the  footsteps  of  the  Apostles,  measured  with  a  firm  and  sure 
glance,  the  extent  of  the  peril,  and  resolved  to  consecrate 
bis  entire  life  to  contend  against  and  destroy  it.  He  under- 
took that  glorious  task  alone  ;  he  accomplished  it  with  the 
assistance  of  the  pastors  who  had  retired  to  Geneva  and 
Lausanne. 

Antoine  Court  was  born  at  Villeneuve  in  the  Vivarais, 
in  1696.  He  had  been  admirably  gifted  by  nature.  A  right 
mind,  a  remarkable  facility  of  elocution,  an  indomitable  cou- 
rage joined  to  a  rare  spirit  of  command,  an  extraordinary 
vigor  for  supporting  the  rudest  fatigues  of  soul  and  body, 
an  extreme  amenity  in  his  intimate  relations  with  men,  and 
an  unbounded  devotion  to  the  religion  of  his  fathers.  Such 
were  the  qualities  which,  taking  the  place  in  him  of  study, 
and  all  the  other  resources  of  study  of  which  he  had  been 
deprived,  showed  him  in  a  position  to  act  upon  the  lost  popu- 
lation of  the  South,  and  to  merit  the  title  of  the  restorer  of 
Protestantism  in  France. 

He  directed  his  first  efforts  against  the  sect  of  the  "  in- 
spired" who  dishonored  the  reformed  religion,  and  who  would 
have  entirely  destroyed  it  in  time,  if  they  had  not  been  en- 
ergetically repressed.  From  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  he 
travelled  through  the  Vivarais  where  these  fanatics  counted 
most  adepts,  and  had  the  reproach  of  making  war  against 


216  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

God  ;  he  struggled  coiirageousl}^  against  tlieir  dangerous  doc- 
trines. But  the  efforts  of  a  single  man  would  have  been  in- 
sufficient to  reorganize  the  churches.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
seven  years,  he  secretly  convoked  an  assembly  of  men,  chosen 
from  among  the  most  enlightened  and  resolute  of  the  party. 
On  the  21st  of  August,  1715,  they  found  themselves  met 
together,  to  the  number  of  nine,  in  a  desert  place.  Upon  the 
invitation  of  Court,  they  elected,  after  the  example  of  the 
ancient  consistories,  a  moderator,  who  should  fill  at  once  the 
duties  of  president  and  secretary.  That  title  was  confer- 
red upon  him  by  the  plurality  of  suffrages.  The  synods  had 
been  suppressed  during  thirty  years.  That  assembly  revived 
them.  It  prescribed,  in  fact,  the  confession  of  faith  of  the 
reformed  churches  of  France  as  the  rule  of  belief,  put  in  full 
vigor  the  ecclesiastic  discipline,  organized  consistories  in  the 
Protestant  villages,  and  interdicted  preaching  to  the  inspired. 
Thus  at  the  very  moment  when  Louis  XIV.  was  at  the  point 
of  death  in  the  midst  of  the  splendors  of  Versailles,  Protes- 
tantism, which  he  believed  to  be  entirely  overthrown,  was  ele- 
vating itself  from  its  ruins,  in  the  mountains  of  the  Vivarais, 
by  means  of  the  cares  of  a  nameless  youth  and  a  few  illiter- 
ate and  obscure  men. 

There  was  in  France  at  that  time  but  a  single  minister  who 
was  regularly  consecrated.  His  name  was  Roger,  and  he 
had  been  ordained  at  Wirtemberg.  Court  and  his  fellow 
laborers  at  Nimes,  Corteis  and  Maroger,  were  only  students, 
and  could  in  consequence  neither  administer  the  sacraments, 
nor  perform  marriages.  To  renew  the  interrupted  traditions 
of  the  faith,  the  oldest  among  them,  Pierre  Corteis,  repaired 
to  Zurich,  and  there  received  the  imposition  of  the  hands 
which  was  prescribed  by  the  ecclesiastical  laws,  and,  upon 
his  return  to  France,  he  consecrated  in  his  turn  Antoine 
Court  at  a  synod  which  was  held  in  1718.  After  that  day, 
the  young  pastor  devoted  himself  without  reserve  to  his  high 
mission.     But  he  had  need  of  assistants,  and  it  was  not  easy 


CARDINAL    ALBERONI.  217 

to  find  tliem  for  a  career,  the  close  of  which  would  be  either 
the  wheel  or  the  gibbet.  Court  did  not  hesitate  to  seek  them 
himself  He  travelled  through  the  provinces  of  the  South, 
took  from  the  workshops  or  the  plough,  young  men  in  whom 
he  saw  sufiicient  aptitude  to  learn,  and  sufficient  courage  to 
encounter  death,  constituted  himself  their  instructor,  and  filled 
them  with  the  ardent  conviction  which  he  himself  had  em- 
braced. The  assemblies  in  the  desert  became  soon  more  fre- 
quent and  more  regular.  The  Gospel  was  read,  psalms  were 
sung,  sacraments  were  distributed,  and  they  mutually  exhort- 
ed each  other  to  martyrdom.  Obliged  to  conceal  himself  in 
the  most  impenetrable  forests  of  the  Cevennes,  and  often  to 
sleep  in  caves  among  the  rocks,  Court  was  often  exposed  to  the 
danger  of  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  soldiers  sent  in  pur- 
suit of  him.  One  day  he  escaped  from  the  town  of  Alais, 
only  by  a  sort  of  miracle.  The  commandant,  informed  of  his 
arrival,  had  ordered  the  garrison  under  arms,  guarded  the 
gates,  and  commanded  searches  to  be  made  in  every  house. 
His  loss  seemed  sure.  He  remained  an  entire  day,  and  the 
ensuing  night,  concealed  in  a  dunghill,  where  no  one  thought 
of  seeking  him.  Compelled  at  last  by  hunger  to  issue  from 
his  retreat,  he  put  on  an  air  so  tranquil  and  assured,  that  he 
had  the  good  fortune  to  pass  through  the  sentinels  without 
being  recognized.  By  a  strange  coincidence,  at  the  very  mo- 
ment when  the  authorities  pursued  him  as  a  criminal,  he  was 
rendering  them  an  invaluable  service  by  preventing  a  revolt, 
which  might  have  gravely  compromised  the  tranquillity  of 
the  kingdom. 

Cardinal  Alberoni  sought  to  create  a  party  in  favor  of 
Philip  V.  Counting  upon  the  Protestants,  whose  misfor- 
tunes he  knew,  he  sent  them  emissaries  to  promise  his  assist- 
ance, if  they  would  take  up  arms.  The  regent,  informed  of 
these  intrigues,  had  recourse  to  Basnage,  with  whom  he  was 
in  correspondence,  and,  in  accordance  with  the  advice  of  that 
illustrious  exile,  he  dispatched  a  gentleman  to  Court,  to  beg 

VOL.   II. — 10 


218  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

of  him  to  employ  his  credit  to  retain  the  Protestants  in  sub- 
mission. He  soon  learned  with  the  lively  satisfaction  which 
follows  fear,  that  the  pastor  of  the  Desert  had  anticipated 
his  desires ;  that  one  party  of  the  Spanish  agents  had  been 
already  rejected,  that  every  effort  was  making  to  frustrate  the 
solicitations  of  the  others,  and  that  Court  would  not  cease, 
at  the  peril  of  his  life,  to  try  to  inspire  pacific  sentiments  in 
the  minds  of  that  small  number  of  fanatic  persons,  whom  thirty 
years  of  ignorance,  and  the  prolonged 'application  of  a  barba- 
rous legislation,  might  have  led  astray.  Touched  by  these 
dispositions,  so  different  from  those  he  expected,  the  Prince 
offered  the  young  man  a  considerable  pension,  with  permis- 
sion to  sell  his  property  and  leave  the  kingdom.  Court  re- 
fused to  consent  voluntarily  to  the  species  of  exile  to  which 
those  favors  would  have  condemned  him.* 

That  which  he  did  not  believe  it  his  duty  to  do  at  that 
time,  upon  those  advantageous  conditions,  he  was  obliged  to 
do  ten  years  afterward,  when  the  penal  laws,  revived  at  the 
majority  of  Louis  XY.,  weighed  with  equal  force  upon  him 
and  his  family,  which  he  could  no  longer  render  happy  in  the 
bosom  of  his  country.  He  proposed,  beside,  to  seek  upon  a 
foreign  soil  new  and  powerful  assistance  for  his  oppressed 
brethren.  In  1729,  he  retired  to  Lausanne,  whither  his 
wife  had  preceded  him,  and  where  he  was  received  with  the 
most  flattering  distinction.  That  hospitable  town  granted 
him  a  pension,  with  the  rights  of  citizenship,  and  in  that 
country  filled  with  refugees,  he  tasted  for  the  first  time  a  re- 
pose which  he  had  not  known  since  his  infancy.  But,  from 
the  depth  of  his  retreat,  he  did  not  cease  to  turn  his  atten- 
tion toward  his  oppressed  brethren,  and  kept  up  with  them 
an  active  correspondence,  directing  them  by  his  counsels, 
and  exhorting  them  to  patience  and  resignation.     Religious 

*  For  the  negotiations  of  the  regent  with  Antoine  Court,  see  the 
curious  details  given  by  Courts  of  Gobelin,  in  his  "  Primitive  World," 
vol.  i.  pp.  5,  6  and  7. 


REFORMED    MINISTERS.  219 

dissensions  having  broken  out  in  Languedoc,  he  returned 
thither  suddenly,  in  1744,  and  appeared  alone  in  the  midst 
of  the  divided  churches,  to  bring  them  peace.  At  the  sound 
of  his  venerated  voice,  animosities  ceased,  and  the  calm 
which  had  been  disturbed  for  eleven  years  was  re-established 
in  one  day.  When,  before  his  return  to  Lausanne,  he  con- 
voked an  assembly  of  the  faithful  in  a  solitary  place  near 
Nimes,  nearly  ten  thousand  men  flocked  thither.  He  spoke 
to  them  with  an  energetic  eloquence  which  he  had  never  be- 
fore displayed  to  the  same  degree  in  any  of  his  discourses ; 
he  recalled  to  their  minds  the  duties  which  they  had  to  ful- 
fil as  Christians,  as  brothers,  and  as  subjects ;  then  addres- 
sing to  them  his  last  farewell,  he  left  them  for  ever  amidst 
the  general  emotion. 

The  principal  object  of  the  long  sojourn  of  Court  at 
Lausanne,  was  the  foundation  of  an  establishment  to  provide 
the  French  churches  with  pastors.  He  strove  to  interest 
the  charity  and  religious  zeal  of  the  Protestants  of  Switzer- 
land, Holland,  England,  and  Germany,  in  that  work.  He 
composed  memoirs,  undertook  journeys,  and  associated  him- 
self in  a  great  part  of  his  measures  with  Duplan,  a  gentleman 
of  x\lais,who  went  to  collect  throughout  all  Europe  aid  for  the 
"  faithful  under  the  cross."  The  same  hands,  which  opened 
upon  a  foreign  soil  asylums  for  the  indigent  refugees,  and 
caused  their  pious  alms  to  reach  the  Protestants  who  were 
condemned  to  the  galleys,  also  extended  their  benefits  to  the 
object  of  the  solicitations  of  those  two  voluntary  exiles. 
William  Wake,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  Walloon 
churches  of  Holland,  those  of  Brandenburgh,  the  government 
of  Berne,  and  the  "  reformed  "  of  the  south  of  France,  or- 
ganized subscriptions  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  young 
Frenchmen  who  were  about  to  study  in  Switzerland,  to  de- 
vote themselves  to  the  holy  ministry,  and  afterward  to  return 
to  their  native  country,  where  martyrdom  almost  always 
awaited  them.  It  was,  in  1729,  that  the  seminary  of  Lausanne 


220  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

was  opened,  and  immediately  placed  under  the  direction  of 
Court,  who  had  been  secretly  invested  with  the  title  of  deputy 
general  of  the  churches,  which  was  renewed  in  his  favor, 
after  having  been  last  borne  by  the  Marquis  de  Ruvigny. 
The  government  of  Berne,  through  the  fear  of  wounding  the 
King  of  France  by  openly  favoring  an  establishment  which 
might  displease  him,  only  took  it  under  its  protection  tacitly. 
The  mystery,  however,  with  which  it  was  surrounded,  was 
not  so  impenetrable  that  it  could  escape  the  knowledge  of 
the  French  ambassador.  But  the  Court  of  Versailles,  doubt- 
less thenceforth  convinced  of  the  impossibility  of  extirpat- 
ing Protestantism  in  the  kingdom,  saw  without  too  much 
uneasiness  that  those  ministers  were  educated  in  a  country 
exempt  from  fanaticism,  French  by  its  language  and  politi- 
cal sympathies,  and  in  which  they  could  not  imbibe  senti- 
ments of  hatred  against  their  country.  During  the  remain- 
der of  his  laborious  and  truly  apostolic  life,  which  was  pro- 
longed more  than  thirty  years  from  that  period.  Court  did 
not  cease  to  consecrate  all  his  cares  to  that  great  religious 
institution  which,  in  the  space  of  eighty  years,  has  furnished 
more  than  seven  hundred  preachers  to  France.  Professor 
George  Poller,  of  Bottens,  seconded  him  powerfully,  and 
aided  him  in  definitively  organizing  that  "  School  of  the 
Pastors  of  the  Desert,"  the  internal  regulations  and  condi- 
tions of  duration  of  which  were  never  completely  known  to 
the  French  government.  In  1787,  at  the  moment  when  the 
Abbe  Bonnaud  composed  his  discourse  to  Louis  XVI.  to  dis- 
suade him  from  the  project  of  granting  to  the  Protestants 
freedom  of  the  state,  the  Bishop  of  Lausanne  and  Fribourg 
wrote  to  the  ministers  of  the  King,  who  had  demanded  from 
him  precise  information  :  "  That  seminary  is  distinct  in  every 
point  from  the  Swiss  Academy.  Twenty  to  twenty-four 
French  Protestants  are  found  there,  who  are  to  have  the 
churches  of  their  country.  They  remain  there  three  years, 
go  through  the  course  of  ethics,  philosophy,  theology,  and 


PASTORS   OF    THE    DESERT.  221 

the  Holy  Scriptures,  under  professors  distinct  from  those  of 
the  Academy,  without  bearing  the  title.  The  former  are 
consecrated  by  those  masters  in  private  chambers;  the  lat- 
ter, after  having  been  examined,  and  after  having  obtained  a 
certificate  of  capacity,  return  to  their  homes,  and  are  conse- 
crated by  the  synod  of  their  province.  A  committee  of 
seven  or  eight  persons,  laymen  and  ecclesiastics,  the  most 
distinguished  of  the  town  of  Lausanne,  keep  them  upon 
divers  pensions,  and  give  them  about  forty  French  livres  a 
month.  They  do  not  say  whence  they  draw  those  funds,  and 
keep  it  a  profound  secret.* 

The  Bishop  of  Fribourg,  as  well  as  all  the  world,  was 
still  ignorant  that  the  will  of  the  donors  had  left  the  manage- 
ment of  the  funds  to  a  particular  committee,  which  sat  at 
Geneva,  and  which,  to  deceive  the  supervision  of  the  French 
resident,  veiled  the  true  object  of  its  financial  administration, 
and  employed  precautions  so  minute,  that  if  its  papers  had 
been  seized,  they  would  have  taught  nothing  to  the  French 
Government.  He  did  not  know  that,  completely  to  assure 
the  mystery,  which  was  observed  with  a  sort  of  terror,  the 
committee  even  caused  those  papers  to  be  regularly  destroy- 
ed at  the  end  of  a  certain  number  of  years,  thus  eluding  the 
possibility  of  one  day  compromising  the  French  Protestants, 
who  maintained  with  it  a  correspondence  which  was  forbidden 
by  the  laws  of  the  kingdom ;  and  the  Genevese  ministers, 
who  were  in  a  state  of  disobedience  toward  their  magistrates, 
by  the  relations  which  they  preserved  with  the  pastors  of 
the  desert. 

It  is  thus  that  that  nursery  of  young  ministers,  which  re- 
placed the  destroyed  schools  of  Saumur  and  Sedan,  had  its 
birth,  and  maintained  itself.  Created  to  guarantee  religious 
instruction  to  the  Protestant  population  of  the  South,  it  sub- 

*  Discourse  read  to  tlie  Council,  in  presence  of  the  King,  by  a 
Patriot  Minister,  pp.  137,  139.  This  discourse  was  reprinted  in  1827. 
Compare  Verdeil,  vol.  iii.  p.  325. 


222  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

sisted  until  the  day  when  the  creation  of  the  Faculty  of  The- 
ology of  Montauban  put  a  natural  end  to  its  mission,  by  per- 
mitting it  to  abdicate  in  favor  of  the  establishments  which 
were  founded  in  France,  by  the  sovereign  authority.* 

Among  the  pupils  of  the  Seminary  of  Lausanne,  Court 
de  Gebelin,  Paul  Rabaut,  and  Rabaut  Saint-Eteinne,  all 
three  celebrated  under  different  titles,  but  whose  efforts  al- 
ways converged  toward  the  same  end,  the  enfranchisement 
of  the  French  Protestants,  merit  special  mention  in  this 
work.  The  first  was  the  son  of  Antoine  Court.  Born  at 
Lausanne,  he  pursued  his  studies  in  that  town  in  the  midst 
of  the  descendants  of  the  refugees,  and  was  consecrated 
while  still  young  to  the  holy  ministry.  After  his  father's 
death,  in  1760,  he  left  the  Pays  de  Yaud,  and  went  to 
France,  to  visit  the  churches  of  the  desert.  To  avoid  being 
recognized  and  arrested,  he  called  himself  Grebelin,  an  ima- 
ginative name,  formerly  adopted  by  his  father,  and  which 
had  been  employed  on  the  addresses  of  the  letters  which  he 
received  from  the  interior  of  the  kingdom,  in  order  to  con- 
ceal the  secret  from  the  police.  He  saw,  at  Uzes,  the  coun- 
try of  his  mother  ;  the  fields  and  humble  house  which,  in  her 
precipitate  flight,  she  had  been  compelled  to  abandon,  and 
which  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  strangers.     But  he   saw 

*  We  have  consulted  two  unpublished  letters  on  Antoine  Court 
and  the  Seminary  of  Lausanne,  by  M.  de  Vegobre,  the  younger,  whose 
father  had  been  the  intimate  confidant  of  the  "restorer  of  the 
churches."  They  were  communicated  to  us  by  M.  Coquerel,  the 
younger,  to  whom  they  belonged.  M.  Munier  Romilly,  and  M.  Cel- 
lerier,  of  Geneva,  have  likewise  furnished  us  with  precious  informa- 
tion. Among  printed  works,  we  have  had  recourse  to  the  "  History  of 
the  Churches  in  the  Desert,"  by  M.  Charles  Coquerel,  vol.  i.,  passim ; 
to  the  "  Historical  Notice  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Nimes,"  by 
Borrel,  pp.  29-33  (Nimes,  IBS'?);  to  numerous  dissertations  on  the 
"Primitive  "World,"  by  Court,  of  Gebelin;  and  principally  to  that 
entitled  "  Our  First  Studies,"  in  the  first  volume. 


THE  BROTHERS  GRENIER.  223 

them  without  envy  ;  and,  when  the  means  of  obtaining  their 
restitution  vrere  pointed  out  to  him,  he  refused  to  have  re- 
course to  them,  not  being  able  to  resolve  to  dispossess  the 
proprietors,  who  had  enjoyed  them  so  many  years.  He  made 
his  debut,  by  the  publication  of  two  important  works,  the 
materials  of  which  his  father  had  prepared.  "  The  Patriotic 
and  Impartial  Frenchman,"  and  the  "  History  of  the  War  of 
the  Camisards."  He  afterward  came  to  Paris,  and  after  ten 
years  of  the  most  laborious  and  persevering  studies,  he 
brought  out  his  treatise  on  the  "  Primitive  World,"  which 
produced  for  him  two  prizes  from  the  French  Academy,  and 
the  post  of  censor-royal,  from  which  his  Protestantism  would 
seem  to  have  excluded  him.  From  that  time  he  employed 
the  high  consideration,  with  which  he  was  surrounded,  in 
pleading  the  cause  of  his  oppressed  brethren  before  the  great. 
One  day  he  dared  to  present  to  the  Duke  of  La  Yrilliere  a 
memorial  in  favor  of  some  prisoners  for  religion's  sake. 
"  Do  you  know,"  said  the  minister  to  him  with  a  menacing 
tone,  "  that  I  can  cause  you  to  be  hanged  ?  "  "I  know,  my 
lord,"  he  replied,  without  trembling,  "  that  you  can  do  it ; 
but  I  also  know,  that  you  are  too  just,  and  I  hope  that  you 
will  condescend  to  listen  to  me."  The  astonished  minister 
received  the  memorial,  and  afterward  always  showed  him- 
self a  partisan  of  toleration.  He  had  already  previously,  in 
his  "  Toulousaines,"  published  the  process  of  Galas ;  and 
perhaps  the  first  called  the  attention  of  Voltaire  to  that  tragic 
event.  At  the  same  time,  he  had  denounced  to  public  in- 
dignation the  punishment  of  the  pastor  Rochette,  an  ancient 
pupil  of  the  Seminary  of  Lausanne,  and  that  of  three  other 
martyrs  of  the  Protestant  faith,  the  brothers  Grenier,  gentle- 
men glassmakers,  who  were  condemned  to  death  for  having 
gone  out  armed  on  a  day  of  public  commotion.  Appointed 
agent  and  deputy  of  the  churches  at  Paris,,  and  representa- 
tive of  the  committee  which  directed  the  Seminary  of  Lau- 
sanne, he  became  in  some  sort  the  director  of  a  ministry  of 


224  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

the  reformed  religion.  But  he  had  not  the  good  fortune 
to  see  his  efforts  crowned  with  complete  success.  He  died 
in  1784,  three  years  before  the  celebrated  ordinance  of  Louis 
XVI.,  which  restored  their  civil  rights  to  the  Protestants, 
and  the  promulgation  of  which  he  more  than  any  one  else 
had  prepared,  by  the  popularity  of  his  writings,  and  by  the 
esteem  which  he  knew  how  to  inspire  in  the  most  eminent 
men  of  Parisian  society. 

Paul  Kabaut^  and  his  son  Rabaut  Saint-Etienne  were 
educated,  like  Court  de  Gebelin,  in  exile,  amidst  the  sons 
and  grandsons  of  the  expatriated  Protestants  of  1685  ;  but, 
happier  than  he,  they  lived  long  enough  to  see  at  length 
better  days  shine  upon  their  country. 

In  1736,  Antoine  Court,  in  one  of  his  journeys  in  France, 
alighted  at  the  house  of  a  cloth  merchant  at  Bedarieux.  He 
remarked  in  the  son  of  his  host  an  extraordinary  disposition 
toward  the  study  of  the  sciences,  and  at  the  same  time  a  re- 
ligious conviction  full  of  ardor  and  exaltation.  Animated  by 
an  eager  hope,  be  proposed  to  him  to  embrace  the  ecclesiastical 
career,  and  to  follow  him  to  Lausanne.  The  young  man  joy- 
fully consented,  and  was  consecrated  minister  in  1739,  This 
was  Paul  Rabaut.  Upon  his  return  to  France,  he  was  at- 
tached to  the  church  of  Nimes,  and  such  was  the  influence 
of  his  eloquent  and  pious  words  and  his  conciliating  character, 
that  both  Protestants  and  Catholics  encircled  him  with  the 
same  respect.  Becdelievre,  the  Bishop  of  Nimes,  who  had  not 
the  oratorical  talent  of  Flechier,  but  who  had  inherited  the 
Episcopal  virtues,  the  love  of  toleration,  and  charity  of  his 
illustrious  predecessor,  conceived  for  Rabaut  sincere  esteem, 
and  for  the  first  time  in  France,  were  seen  a  bishop  and  a 
minister  concerting  between  themselves,  and  working  to 
bring  about  a  reconciliation  between  the  inhabitants  of  the 
same  city  profoundly  divided  by  religious  dissensions.  Like 
the  Count  de  Gebelin,  Rabaut  proposed  to  pursue  by  every 
legal  method  the  emancipation  of  his  brethren.     He  wrote  a 


PRAYER    IN    THE    WILDERNESS.  225 

memorial  in  their  favor,  and  determined  to  bring  it  under  the 
eyes  of  Louis  XV.     The  enterprise  was  difficult  and  perilous. 
Accompanied  by  a  devoted  friend,  he  went  to  Uchaud,  to 
await  there  the  passage  of  the  Marquis  du  Paulini,  who  was 
going  to  Montpellier.     Upon  his  arrival,  he  approached  his 
carriage  alone,  with  a  modest  but  firm  expression  of  counte- 
nance ;  he  declared  his  name,  his  quality,  and  the  object  of 
his  errand,  and  presented  the  writing.     Touched  by  this  act 
of  heroic  confidence,  the  general,  whose  power  was  almost  un- 
limited, and  who,  by  a  single  gesture,  could  have  caused  him 
to  be  hanged  upon  the  spot  without  the  slightest  formality 
of  justice,  uncovered  his  head,  received  the  memorial,  and 
promised  to  put  it  in  the  hands  of  the  King.      He  kept  his 
word,  and  from  that  day  the  pursuits  against  the  religionists 
in  Languedoc  lost  their  severity.     But  in  contributing  to 
alleviate  the  lot  of  his  brethren,  Rabaut  rendered  his  own 
most    rigorous.      The    Governor   of  the  province,    irritated 
at  his  proceedings,  set  a  price  upon  his  head.      Hemmed  in 
on  every  side,  the  courageous  minister  retired  at  night  into 
the  grottos  of  the  mountains,  or  the  isolated  sheep-folds, 
which  are  found  in  great  numbers  on  the  uncultivated  heaths 
round  about  Nimes.     At  last,  in  1762,  he  obtained  from  the 
Prince  of  Beauveau  a  sort  of  tacit  toleration.      The  Protes- 
tants of  Nimes  then  chose  for  their  winter  assemblies  a  vast 
amphitheatre  situated  on  the  road  to  Alais,  on  the  banks  of 
the  torrent  of  Cadereau,  and  which  was  called  the  hermitage. 
There,  upon  seats  constructed  of  piles  of  stones,  from  six  to 
eight  thousand    persons  placed  themselves    every  Sunday, 
eager  to  hear  the  inspired  words  of  their  pastor.     In  the 
summer  they  removed  their  assemblages  to  an  ancient  quarry, 
named  Lecque,  which  was  surrounded  on  every  side  by  im- 
mense rocks,  and  could  be  approached  only  by  two  narrow 
paths.     The  burning  rays  of  the  sun  could  not  penetrate 
thither,  and  the  faithful  there  found  themselves  sheltered 
from  the  heat  of  the  day  and  the  rains  of  the  storm.     It  was 

VOL.   II.— 10* 


226  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

in  that  sombre  cave  that  the  piercing  voice  of  Eabant  re- 
echoed for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  maintained  faith  and 
hope  in  the  hearts  of  men.  Three  ministers  animated  by  the 
same  zeal  and  ready  to  brave  the  same  dangers,  seconded  him 
in  that  difficult  mission — Paul  Vincent,  Puget,  Encontre, 
and  afterward  his  own  son,  Rabaut  Saint-Etienne. 

Jean  Paul  Rabaut,  called  Saint-Etienne,  born  in  the  re- 
ligious proscription  in  1742,  and  a  victim  of  the  terrorist 
proscription  in  1793,  prosecuted  his  studies  at  Lausanne, 
under  the  direction  of  Court  de  Gebelin,  who  had  not  yet 
left  that  peaceable  retreat  to  go  and  receive  upon  a  vaster 
theatre  the  glory  which  was  due  to  his  immense  knowledge. 
The  community  of  faith  and  misfortune,  formed  from  that 
time  so  strict  a  friendship  between  master  and  pupil,  that  it 
was  never  afterward  altered.  His  studies  being  finished, 
Saint-Etienne  embraced  the  perilous  profession  of  his  father, 
and  returned  among  his  brethren  to  partake  their  lot,  and 
encounter  the  religious  persecution,  which  slackened  some- 
times, but  was  always  renewed.  He  had  scarcely  re-entered 
France,  when  he  learned  the  execution  of  Kochette,  who  was 
condemned  to  death  by  the  parliament  of  Toulouse  for  hav- 
ing preached  in  the  assemblies  of  the  Desert,  and  far  from 
being  intimidated,  he  went  to  exercise  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  same  court  of  justice,  the  duties  of  his  dangerous 
ministry.  Toleration,  submission  to  the  laws,  love  towards 
the  King,  resignation,  and  forgetfulness  of  injuries,  such 
were  the  subjects  which  his  vigorous  eloquence  delighted  to 
develope  before  his  auditory.  After  the  example  of  his 
father,  he  applied  himself  to  calm  the  hatreds,  and  maintain 
peace  in  those  countries  which  had  been  so  often  rendered 
bloody  by  religious  wars.  He  not  only  preached  toleration, 
but  he  defended  it  in  a  celebrated  work  entitled  the  "  Vieux 
Cevenol."  Combining  in,  as  it  were,  an  historic  frame,  all 
the  laws  promulgated  since  the  time  of  Louis  XIV.  against 
the  Protestants,  he  composed  a   kind    of  romance,  in  which 


RABAUT    ST.    ETIENNE  227 

the  evils  suffered  by  his  brethren  under  the  empire  of  that 
barbarous  legislation,  were  ingeniously  described  in  the  pic- 
ture of  the  life  of  Ambroise  Borely,  an  imaginary  exile,  whom 
the  author  represented  as  dying  at  London,  at  the  age  of  a 
hundred  and  three  years.  A  stranger  to  the  exclusive  ideas 
of  a  fraction  of  his  party,  when  the  diocese  of  Nimes  lost  its 
bishop,  Becdelievre,  he  constituted  himself  the  interpreter  of 
the  public  grief,  by  composing  the  funeral  elegy  of  that  vener- 
able man.  The  Count  Boissy  d' Anglas,  who  then  dwelt  in  that 
town,  caused  his  writings  to  reach  La  Harpe,  with  whom  he 
was  connected.  The  celebrated  critic  replied  to  him  :  "  You 
have  sent  me  an  excellent  work  ;  behold  true  eloquence,  that 
of  the  soul  and  sentiment.  It  can  be  easily  seen  that  every 
thing  which  emanates  from  the  pen  of  the  author  is  inspired 
by  the  virtues  which  he  celebrates.  I  beg  of  you  to  thank 
your  worthy  friend." 

A  great  project  had  long  occupied  the  generous  soul  of 
the  pastor  of  Nimes,  that  of  begging  from  the  government 
the  concession  of  a  civil  constitution  for  the  Protestants. 
Encouraged  by  La  Fayette,  who,  passing  through  Langue- 
doc,  after  his  glorious  campaign  in  America,  had  promised 
him  his  powerful  mediation,  he  came  to  Paris,  and,  sustained 
by  him  who  was  then  called  the  citizen  of  the  two  worlds,  and 
who  was  surrounded  by  all  the  illusion  of  his  growing  popu- 
larity, and  warmly  aided  by  Malsherbes  and  the  Marquis 
of  Breteuil,  he  obtained  from  the  King  the  celebrated  edict 
of  1787,  which  was  the  first  reparation  of  the  great  mistake 
of  Louis  XIV.  Paul  Rabaut  still  lived,  without  having  a 
sure  place  where  to  rest  his  head.  The  old  pastor  of  the 
-  Desert  could  at  length  return  to  Nimes,  and  there  build  a 
house  in  a  street  which  was  called,  and  which  is  still  called, 
!'  the  street  of  M.  Paul. 

When  Louis  XVI.  convoked  the  States  G-eneral  in  1789, 
Rabaut  Saint-Etienne  was  appointed  the  first  of  the  eight 
deputies  of  the  third  estate  to  elect  the  seneschalty  of  Tou- 


228  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

louse.  On  the  15th  of  March,  1790,  he  was  proclaimed  Pre- 
sident of  the  National  Assembly.  In  announcing  that  news 
to  his  father,  he  terminated  his  letter  with  these  words  : 
"  The  President  of  the  National  Assembly  is  at  your  feet." 
He,  one  of  the  first,  begged  for  the  establishment  of  the  jury, 
the  regular  liberty  of  the  press,  and  that  of  worship  and  con- 
science, the  immediate  consequence  of  the  edict  which  the 
Protestants  owed  to  the  happy  initiative  of  the  monarch. 
After  the  revolution  of  the  10th  of  August,  he  was  soon 
involved  in  the  ruin  of  the  G-irondins,  and  sent  to  the  scaf- 
fold on  the  5th  of  December,  1793.  Paul  Kabaut  was  him- 
self incarcerated  in  the  citadel  of  Nimes,  whence  he  did  not 
emerge  till  after  the  9th  Thermidor.  The  constitution  of 
the  year  III.  having  definitively  consecrated  religious  liberty, 
he  celebrated  the  inauguration  of  it  by  a  solemn  discourse, 
in  which  he  evoked  the  old  and  sad  memories  of  past  times, 
and  moved,  even  to  tears,  the  immense  audience,  which  had 
assembled  to  hear  him.  But  that  was  the  last  time  that  the 
noble  old  man  appeared  in  the  pulpit.  He  died  a  few  days 
after,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years.* 

*  Historical  JN'otice  of  the  Reformed  Chiircli  of  Ximes,  by  Borrel, 
pp.  33-52.  Nimes,  1837.  "]S"oticeonRabautSaint-Etienne,"by  Count 
Boissy  d'Anglas.  This  notice  can  be  found  prefacing  the  "  Vieux 
Cevenol,"  which  was  reprinted  in  Paris  in  1821. 


CHAPTER    V 

OF   THE  PEESENT   OONDITIOX   OF   THE   DESCENDANTS   OF   THE   EEFU- 
GEES   IN    SWITZERLAND. 

Progress  of  Agriculture,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce— "Watchmaking  in  Geneva— 
Eefugees  who  became  celebrated  in  politics— The  Family  of  Odier— Benjamin 
Constant— Refugees  who  gained  distinction  in  Literature,  Science,  and  the  Arts — 
James  Pradier — Spirit  of  p  roselytism — Severity  of  morals — Spirit  of  charity — 
Pious  legacies — Assistance  sent  to  Eeligionists  in  the  galleys — Calandrin — Let- 
ter of  Pontchartrain— Closing  of  the  Seminary  of  Lausanne— Confiscation  of  the 
treasury  at  Geneva— Embodiment  of  the  colony  of  Berne  in  the  civil  corpora- 
tion of  La  Neuveville. 

Thus,  in  relation  to  religion  and  literature,  as  in  that  of  poli- 
tics, agriculture,  manufactures,  and  commerce,  the  refugees 
exercised  a  happy  influence  over  the  destinies  of  Protestant 
Switzerland,  and  reacted  even,  in  a  certain  measure,  upon 
those  of  their  former  country.  The  salutary  action  of  those 
chosen  men,  and  their  descendants,  continued  during  the 
whole  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  has  not  yet  ceased  in 
our  days.  The  progress  of  agriculture  in  the  Pays  de  Vaud 
is  in  a  great  part  their  work.  The  flourishing  condition  of 
the  fields  in  the  vicinity  of  Lausanne  sufficiently  proves  the 
superiority  of  the  methods  of  culture  which  they  intro- 
duced into  that  country  so  favored  by  nature.  The  manufac- 
tures, which  they  brought  with  them,  became  a  source  of 
wealth  to  French  Switzerland  and  the  canton  of  Berne,  which 
is  not  since  exhausted.  The  fine  silk  manufactures,  with 
which  they  endowed  their  new  country,  have  not  ceased  im- 


230  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

proving  under  their  hands,  and  furnishing  work  to  multitudes 
of  native  and  French  workmen.  Among  the  laboring  class 
of  Berne,  can  be  still  easily  recognized  the  families  originally 
from  Languedoc  and  Dauphiny,  who  have  gained  their  sub- 
sistence in  the  manufactories  established  after  the  revoca- 
tion. The  principal  manufacture,  for  whicb  Geneva  is  in- 
debted to  them,  even  received  a  new  increase  in  the  first  days 
of  the  revolution  of  1789.  When  the  ancient  corporation  of 
watchmakers  of  Paris  had  been  stricken  to  the  heart  by  the 
precipitate  suppression  of  the  severe,  but  useful  statutes  of 
communities,  many  of  the  first  fabricators  left  their  native 
soil,  carrying  with  them,  together  with  their  capital,  the 
knowledge  of  the  special  trades  they  had  acquired,  and  went 
to  unite  themselves  with  the  descendants  of  the  refugees  for 
religion's  sake.  From  that  moment,  Geneva  became  the 
centre  of  the  most  vast  manufactories  of  clock-work  which 
exist  in  Europe.  She  no  longer  contented  herself  with  com- 
peting with  us  in  foreign  markets  ;  we  became  her  tributa- 
ries, for  the  greatest  part  of  the  watches  which  were  sold  in 
France  were  brought  to  us  by  Genevese  watchmakers.  That 
inferiority  is  maintained  even  to  our  times,  for  it  is  always 
French  Switzerland,  and  particularly  the  city  of  Geneva,  which 
furnishes  us  with  watches  of  every  kind.  The  French  watch- 
makers, and  especially  those  of  Paris,  annually  manufacture 
but  a  very  limited  relative  number.  Swiss  commerce,  like- 
wise, was  affected  by  the  impulse  which  it  received  from  the 
intelligent  activity  of  the  refugees.  The  Pourtales,  the 
Coulons,  and  the  Terris,  have  founded  at  Neufchatel  com- 
mercial houses,  which  rival  the  first  in  Europe.  At  Geneva, 
the  celebrated  banker,  Jean-Gabriel  Eynard,  who  is  descend- 
ed from  a  family  of  Dauphiny,  was  twice  enabled  to  conse- 
crate a  part  of  his  immense  fortune  to  render  himself  the 
benefactor  of  Greece,  which  ow^es  to  him  almost  its  existence. 
The  contemporaneous  period  has  seen  many  descendants 
of  the  refugees  pursue  with  brilliancy  the  career  of  politics 


BENJAMIN    CONSTANT.  231 

and  that  of  arms.  Philippe  Marthe  Claparede,  whose 
father  died  at  Geneva  in  1737,  after  having  been  for 
some  time  councillor  to  the  first  King  of  Prussia,  was 
captain  in  the  French  service,  and  received,  as  a  re- 
ward for  his  bravery,  the  decoration  of  the  Military  Order 
of  Merit,*  G-eneral  Rath,  a  scion  of  a  Genevese  family 
originally  from  Nimes,  fought  under  the  standard  of  the 
Emperor  of  Russia,  distinguished  himself  in  the  campaign  of 
1812,  and  was  appointed  commandant  of  the  fortified  town 
of  Zamosk.  Gouzy,  an  old  artillery  captain  of  Berne,  is  to- 
day first  secretary  of  the  section  of  the  French  Chancery. f 
James  Fazy,  who  maintained  himself  during  many  years  at 
the  head  of  the  government  of  Geneva,  is  descended  from  a 
manufacturer  of  chintz,  who  received  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship in  1735,  and  whose  father,  Antoine  Fazy,  was  a  refugee 
from  the  valley  of  Queyras,  in  the  Briangonnois.  The  family 
of  Antoine  Odier,  which  fled  from  Pont  en-Royans,  in  Dau- 
phiny,  to  escape  persecution,  and  established  itself  at  Geneva 
in  1717,  has  furnished  to  the  country  of  its  forefathers  two 
men,  who  have  not  been  without  influence  upon  its  new  des- 
tinies. The  grandson  of  Antoine,  who  returned  to  France 
at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  was  deputy  of  Paris 
under  the  restoration,  and  peer  of  the  realm  under  Louis 
Philippe.  Another  scion  of  the  same  family,  Roman  Odier, 
was  deputy  of  the  Yonne.  Both  took  part  in  the  liberal  op- 
position under  Charles  X.,  and  signed  the  address  of  the  221. 
To  conclude,  one  of  our  first  political  writers,  and  most  bril- 
liant parliamentary  orators,  Benjamin  Constant  de  Rebecque, 
born  at  Lausanne  in  1767,  was  also  descended  from  an  emi- 
grant family.  His  father,  who  was  in  correspondence  with 
Voltaire,  was  the  colonel  of  a  Swiss  regiment  in  the  Dutch 
service.  Having  returned  to  France  in  1795,  the  young 
Benjamin  Constant  united  himself  with  the  moderate  repub- 
lican party,  and  became  the  friend  of  Chenier,  Louvet,  and 

*  GalifFe.     "  Grenealogical  Notices  on  the  Genevese  Families." 
+  In  1851. 


232  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

Daunon.  A  few  polemical  writings,  some  articles  in  the  jour- 
nals of  the  day,  and  a  suit  brought  before  the  bar  of  the 
council  of  five  hundred,  in  favor  of  the  descendants  of  the 
refugees,  added  to  his  growing  reputation.  Appointed  a 
member  of  the  Tribunate,  he  took  part  in  that  generous  but 
untimely  opposition,  which  the  wearied  country  did  not  com- 
prehend, and  by  which  a  power  strong  enough  to  dare  every 
thing  became  greatly  irritated.  Included  in  the  elimination 
which  struck  the  elite  of  that  body,  and  constrained  imme- 
diately to  leave  France,  he  retired  to  Weimar,  returned  to 
France  upon  the  fall  of  the  emj^ire,  and  placed  himself  among 
the  chiefs  of  that  liberal  party,  which  wished,  while  supporting 
the  throne  of  the  Bourbons,  and  repudiating  the  crimes  of 
the  Reign  of  Terror,  to  assure  to  the  country  the  immortal 
conquests  of  the  revolution.  Elected  deputy  by  the  depart- 
ment of  La  Sarthe,  he  ceased  not,  as  an  orator,  as  a  writer, 
and  as  a  journalist,  to  plead  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  strug- 
gle against  the  retrograde  tendencies,  which  impelled  the 
restoration  towards  its  ruin.  Re-elected  at  Paris,  in  1 824, 
and  at  Strasburg,  in  1827,  in  spite  of  the  electoral  frauds,  to 
which  recourse  was  had  against  him,  he  stood  up  against  the 
Spanish  war,  against  the  law  of  tendency,  those  of  sacrilege 
and  primogeniture,  and  those  of  "justice  and  love."  When 
the  ordinances  of  July  appeared,  he  was  at  his  country-house, 
sick,  and  having  just  suffered  a  painful  operation.  It  was 
in  that  state  that  he  received  a  note  from  Lafayette :  "  A 
terrible  game  is  being  played  here,  our  heads  are  the  stake ; 
lend  us  yours  !  "  Forgetting  his  ruined  health,  he  imme- 
diately hastened  to  take  part  in  the  peril  and  the  victory. 
The  revolution  accomplished,  he  was  one  of  the  majority, 
who  decreed  the  crown  to  the  lieutenant-general  of  the  king- 
dom, and  was  himself  invested  with  the  presidency  of  the 
council  of  state.  But  he  survived  the  triumph  of  his  ideas 
but  a  few  days.  He  died  in  the  month  of  December  of  that 
memorable  year,  which  at  that  time  seemed  to  have  for  ever 


MADAME    DE    STAEL.  233 

terminated  the  era  of  revolutions,  by  tlie  happy  alliance  of 
order  and  liberty. 

Literature,  science,  and  arts,  likewise  owe  some  acknowl- 
edgment to  the  descendants  of  the  French  Protestants,  who 
took  refuge  in  Switzerland  after  the  revocation.      Benjamin 
Constant  was  not  only  a  political  man  of  a  high  and  noble 
bearing,  he  was  also  a   distinguished  writer.     His  work  on 
"  Religion,  considered  in  its  source,  its  forms,  and  its  de- 
velopments," is  remarkable  for  its  sagacity,  erudition,  and 
clearness,  which  recalls  that  of  Voltaire.     Benjamin  Con- 
stant did  not  shine  by  the  novelty  of  his  ideas,  but  nobody 
ever  made  a  more  judicious  choice   of  those  of  other  men, 
and  rendered  science  more  accessible  to  common  minds.     If 
the  representative  government  has  been  so  long  popular  in 
France,  he  is  certainly  one  of  those  to  whom  the  honor  is 
due  of  having  taught  it  to  his  fellow-citizens.     The  daughter 
of  Necker,  the  illustrious  Madame  de  Stael,  who  protected 
the  debuts  of  Benjamin  Constant,  and   shared  his  exile  at 
Weimar,  was  descended,  on  her  mother's  side,  from  an  emi- 
grant French  woman  who  had  married  a  pastor  of  the  Pays 
de  Vaud.     The  G-enevese  scholar,  Mallet,  who  passed  part 
of  his  life  in  Denmark,  and  afterward  returned  to  his  native 
city,  where  he  was  appointed  professor  of  history,  and  where 
he  died  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  century,  be- 
longed, through  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Masson, 
to  a  family  of  Champagne,  domiciliated  in  Geneva  during 
two  generations.     In  the  same   city,  Pierre    Odier,  great- 
grandson  of  the  refugee  Antoine,  is  to-day  considered  among 
the  most  eminent  lawyers.     Two  men,  whose  merit  in  sci- 
entific studies  is  acknowledged,  the  naturalist  Jean  de  Char- 
pentier,  and  a  chemist,  as  yet  young,  but  already  celebrated, 
are  descended,  like  Mallet  and  Odier,  from  emigrant  fami- 
lies.     The    former,    whose    ancestors    were    established    in 
Germany,  but  who  fixed  himself  in  the   Canton   de  Yaud, 
is  the  author  of  a  remarkable  memoir   "  on   the    Forma- 


234  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

tion  of  the  Glaciers,"  and  an  "  Essay  on  the  Geographical 
Constitution  of  the  Pyrenees,"  which  were  crowned  by 
the  Institute.  The  latter,  the  grandson  of  Gallissard  de 
Marignac,  a  refugee  from  Alais,  was  attached  in  quality  of 
chemist  to  the  manufactory  of  Sevres,  and  afterward  ap- 
pointed professor  of  chemistry  in  the  academy  of  the  town 
of  Geneva,  where  his  family  has,  during  more  than  a  century, 
possessed  the  right  of  citizenship.  The  arts  have  like- 
wise received  a  certain  lustre  from  the  descendants  of  the 
fugitives.  The  historical  painter,  Lugardon,  belongs  to  the 
colony  of  Berne.  The  painter  Lafon  is  also  the  offspring  of 
a  French  exile  who  established  himself  in  that  town.  The 
illustrious  sculptor,  James  Pradier,  born  at  Geneva,  in  1792, 
who  died  in  Paris,  in  1852,  was  descended  from  a  family 
which  glorified  itself  on  account  of  the  same  origin ;  for  his 
grandfather  was  one  of  those  victims  of  fanaticism  who  were 
obliged  to  take  refuge  in  Switzerland  after  the  revocation. 
Pradier,  who,  since  1827,  has  been  a  member  of  the  Insti- 
tute, is  the  author  of  the  charming  group  of  the  three  Graces, 
which  can  be  admired  in  one  of  the  saloons  of  Versailles,  of 
the  Phidias  and  Prometheus  which  figure  in  the  garden  of 
the  Tuileries,  of  the  bas-reliefs  in  the  former  deputy-chamber, 
of  the  four  admirable  "  Fames  "of  the  triumphal  arch  of 
PEtoile,  a  work  of  genius  which  would  suffice  for  the  repu- 
tation of  a  great  artist,  of  the  two  Muses  of  the  fountain 
Moliere,  and  a  multitude  of  other  works,  as  glorious  for 
France,  where  his  talent  was  formed,  as  for  the  country 
where  he,  was  born,  and  where  his  ancestors  were  so  gene- 
rously received.  In  conclusion,  let  us  mention  the  fine  mu- 
seum of  Geneva,  which  owes  its  existence  to  the  liberality 
of  General  Rath,  and  to  which  public  gratitude  has  given 
the  name  of  its  founder. 

An  ardent  system  of  religious  proselytism  did  not  cease 
to  animate  the  greatest  part  of  the  refugees  and  their  de- 
scendants.    When,  in  1707,  the  Genevese,  Guillaume  Fran- 


SUMPTUARY    LAWS,  235 

conis,  furnished  the  first  funds  for  the  establishment  of  a 
''  chamber  of  proselytes,"  with  the  view  of  opposing  a  barrier 
to  Romanist  propagandism,  and  sustaining  the  Catholics 
who  wished  to  embrace  the  "  reform,"  the  company  of  pas- 
tors delegated  for  the  election  of  the  members  of  committee 
immediately  chose  two  French  exiles,  the  Marquis  of  Du- 
quesne,  and  the  Marquis  d'Arzilliers.  *  A  second  chamber 
of  proselytes  was  founded  at  Berne  by  the  enterprise  of  the 
emigrants  who  were  settled  in  that  canton.  Those  profound 
convictions,  still  more  fortified  by  the  sufferings  of  exile, 
contributed  to  preserve  among  them  the  pure  and  austere 
morals  which  distinguished  their  ancestors,  while  they  still 
lived  in  their  ancient  country.  Union  reigned  in  the  in- 
terior of  families.  The  pastors  reprimanded  with  severity 
the  slightest  action,  the  slightest  word  contrary  to  the  most 
rigid  laws  of  propriety.  In  1689,  the  directory  of  the 
colony  of  Berne  cited  to  appear  before  it  the  heads  of  the 
manufactories,  to  exhort  them  to  prevent  their  workmen 
from  swearing  and  singing  indecent  songs,  f  Luxury  was 
rigorously  proscribed.  Their  costume  was  of  a  simplicity 
which  strongly  contrasted  with  the  magnificence  that  the 
wealthy  then  displayed  so  profusely  in  their  garments.  The 
directory  of  Berne  one  day  gravely  deliberated  upon  the  too 
worldly  attire  of  the  women.  They  were  forbidden  to  wear 
the  head-dresses  called  "  fontanges,"  and  other  head-dresses 
"  of  many  stories,"  to  repair,  as  was  said,  the  bad  example 
they  had  given.  Public  opinion  had  openly  blamed  the 
pastors  themselves,  for  having  gone  in  their  robes  to  the  in- 
terment of  the  Marquis  Duquesne,  without  the  previous 
authority  of  the  council.  J     The  inspectors  of  the  colonies 

*  Register  of  the  Council,  sitting  of  Jan.  9,  1*708.  Archives  of 
Geneva. 

f  Book  of  the  Deliberations  of  the  Inspectors  of  the  Refugees  at 
Berne,  Sept.  30,  1689. 

X  Register  of  the  Council,  September,  1122. 


236  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

desired  that  the  exiles,  by  the  most  irreproachable  conduct, 
should  form  a  select  society  which  should  serve  as  a  model 
to  the  rest  of  the  nation.  In  1689,  those  of  Berne  ordered 
the  persons  under  their  jurisdiction  not  to  go  out  after  supper.* 
This  was  to  recommend  to  them  a  regular  and  pious  life, 
in  conformity  with  that  of  the  first  Christians.  All  labor 
was  suspended  on  Sunday.  In  1695,  the  directory  of  Berne, 
by  a  resolution  at  which  we  cannot  help  smiling,  prohibited 
the  French  barbers  and  hair-dressers  from  shaving  on  the 
days  consecrated  to  rest  and  prayer,  f 

Those  men  whose  lives  had  been  a  long  devotion  to  their 
religious  belief,  transmitted  to  their  children  sentiments  of 
sympathy  towards  their  persecuted  brethren,  and  of  charity 
toward  the  poor,  which  never  changed,  and  of  which  history 
offers  many  touching  examples.  At  Lausanne,  the  remem- 
brance of  an  old  pastor  of  Saintes,  named  Merlat,  has  been 
preserved,  who  never  gave  a  repast  to  his  friends,  without  keep- 
ing an  exact  account  of  that  extraordinary  expense,  and  con- 
secrating an  equal  sum  to  the  poor  of  his  quarter.  It  was 
only  after  his  death  that  the  reading  of  his  papers  revealed 
these  benevolent  actions. J  At  Berne,  Jacques  Mourgues, 
the  secretary  of  the  directory  of  the  French  colony,  whose 
name  deserves  to  escape  oblivion,  consecrated  his  entire  life 
to  the  relief  of  the  misfortunes  of  his  companions  in  exile, 
and  died  a  victim  to  his  zeal,  at  the  age  of  thirty-nine  years. 
Sent  to  Aran,  in  1699,  to  fulfil  a  mission  of  high  importance 
near  the  diet  of  the  evangelical  Cantons,  with  a  devotion 
which  bordered  on  heroism,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  undertake 
the  journey  in  the  heart  of  winter,  and  soon  after  his  return 
succumbed  to  the  effects  of  cold  and  fatigue.  Besombes, 
Cabrid  and  Couderc,  his  colleagues,  the  Marquis  d'Arzilliers, 

*  Book  of  tlie  Deliberations  of  the  Inspectors  of  Berne,  Decem- 
ber 30,  1689. 

t  Ibid.  May  27,  1695. 

X  Olivier.    History  of  the  Canton  de  Vaud,  vol.  ii.  p.  1183,  note. 


ETIENNE    RONJAT.  237 

the  Marquis  Duquesne.  Peyrol,  Parlier,  and  the  Sieur  de 
Saligne,  uever  wearied,  during  the  last  fifteen  years   of  the 
seventeenth  century,  of  going  from  town  to  town,  from  prov- 
ince to  province,  neglecting  their  own  interests  for  those  of 
their    brethren,  organizing  collections  in  their  behalf,  and 
pleading  their  cause  near  the  cantonial  authorities  and  evan- 
gelical diets.     A  great  number  of  the  refugees  who  had  at- 
tained to  ease  or  fortune, ^fter  having  themselves  been  some- 
times succored  in  their  distress,  enriched  in  their  turn  the 
treasury  of  Geneva,  the  French  hospital  of  Berne,  and  the 
directories  of  the  colonies,  by  their  gifts.     Among  those  pious 
benefactors  can   be  quoted,  Etienne  Ronjat,  who  bequeathed 
in   1740,  to  the  treasury  of   Geneva,  the  sum    of    150,000 
florins,  that  is  to  say,  about   70,000  francs  of  our  money ; 
the   Nimois    Antoine  d'Posseu,   who   deposited  during  his 
own  lifetime  the  sum  of  30,000  livres,  in  the  hands  of  the 
Protestant  cantons,  on  condition  that   three  quarters  of  the 
interest   should  be  divided   among  the  refugees   and  their 
descendants,  particularly  those  originally  from  Nimes ;  David 
Perrin,  who   died   at    London,  in    1748,  and  who,  leaving 
half  his  fortune   to  the   French   churches  of  that  city,  dis- 
posed of  the  remainder  in  favor  of  the  exiles  who  lived  in 
Berne,  Coire  and  Zurich,  "  most  humbly  supplicating,"  said 
he,  in  his  testament,  "  the  venerable  magistrates  of  the  said 
three  cities,  to  receive  this  small  mark  of  my  gratitude  and 
just  restitution,  for  the  numerous  charitable  favors    which 
my  family  and  myself  received  from  them,  after  our  great 
misfortunes  in  France,  toward  the  close  of  the  passed  cen- 
tury;"   the    merchant    Rouvier,    who    bequeathed    10,000 
louis  d'or  to  the  directory  of  the  Bernese  colony ;  de  Wat- 
tenwyl,  the  son  of  the  "  high  commandant "  of  Berne,  and  a 
French  mother,   whose  maiden  name  was   Morlot,  who  di- 
vided the  greater  part  of  his  fortune  among  the  three  hundred 
refugees  whom  the  directory  of  that  city  might  judge  most 
worthy  of  being  aided;  *  Negret,  who  left  3,000  livres  to 
*  Journal  of  the  disposal  of  the  funds  destined  for  the  mainte- 


238  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

the  indigent  Frenchmen  of  the  same  canton ;  *  and  Lord  Gal- 
loway, who  long  maintained,  at  his  own  expense,  more  than 
forty  refugees,  at  Vevay.f  The  French  colonists  more  than 
once  extended  their  benefits  to  the  Waldenses  of  the  valleys 
of  Piedmont.  They  aided  them  after  the  Peace  of  Ryswick, 
to  rebuild  their  temples.f  The  treasury  of  Greneva  did  not 
content  itself  with  distributing  relief  to  its  poor.  It  often 
sent  considerable  sums  to  the  needy  Frenchmen  of  the  colo- 
nies of  Erlangen,  Cassel  and  Cologne. §  Part  of  its  funds 
were  consecrated  to  the  relief  of  the  French  Protestants  who 
had  been  condemned  to  the  galleys  for  religion's  sake.  The 
refugees  of  Berne,  Zurich,  Lausanne.  Bale  and  Schaffhausen, 
deprived  themselves  of  necessaries  to  succor  those  martyrs 
to  the  faith.  We  read,  in  the  Book  of  the  Deliberations  of 
the  Inspectors  of  the  Colony  of  Berne,  under  the  date  of 
March  4th,  1695 — "  1,000  livres  tournois  will  be  sent  to  the 
galley  slaves  in  France.  A  collection  will  be  made  among 
the  refugees  of  Berne.  Letters  will  be  sent  to  every  place 
where  there  are  French  refugees,  to  inform  them  of  the  suf- 
ferings of  those  '  happy  convicts,'  and  to  exhort  them  to  en- 
large their  donations  in  their  behalf."  Under  the  date  of 
April  1st,  following — "  Reboulet,  a  minister  of  Zurich,  sends 
a  hundred  white  crowns  for  our  brethren,  the  religionists,  in 
the  galleys.  He  announces  a  collection  in  the  town."  Un- 
der the  date  of  May  13th — "  The  churches  of  Morges,  Lau- 
sanne, Vevay  and  Nyon,  send  money  for  the  galley  slaves." 
The  churches  of  Hameln,  Hanover,  Zell,  Magdeburgh. 

nance  of  the  poor  French  refugees  in  the  Canton  of  Berne,  April  12th, 
169Y.     Archives  of  the  Corporation  of  Berne. 

*  Book  of  the  Deliberations  of  the  Inspectors  of  the  Refugees,  in 
the  town  of  Berne,  October  2d,  1696. 

f  Journal  of  the  disposal  of  the  funds  destined  for  the  mainte- 
dance  of  the  poor  refugees  in  the  Canton  of  Berne,  August  26th,  1696. 

X  Archives  of  Geneva.     Historical  Documents,  Xo,  4009. 

§  Ibid.,  No3.  3915,  8962  and  4012. 


THE    MINISTEP^    PONTCHARTRAIN.  239 

and  Bremen,  *  and  those  of  England  and  Holland,  were  in 
correspondence  with  the  French  colonies  in  Switzerland,  and 
maintained  by  their  mediation,  those  victims  of  fanaticism, 
whom  they  called  in  touching  terms,  '•  their  poor  brethren  in 
the  galleys."  Those  funds,  centralized  in  the  hands  of  the 
directory  of  Berne,  were  habitually  remitted  to  Grenevese 
ministers,  who  had  intelligence  with  the  provinces  of  the 
south,  and  even  with  the  interior  of  the  prisons  of  the  gal- 
leys. During  many  long  years,  a  certain  Calandrin  thus 
passed  considerable  sums  to  the  galley  slaves  of  Marseilles. 
But  a  seizure,  which  was  made  on  some  Genevese  merchants, 
put  the  French  government  on  the  track  of  those  relations, 
the  secret  of  which  it  had  until  that  time  vainly  endeavored 
to  discover.  Bitter  complaints  were  immediately  addressed 
to  the  republic.  The  minister,  Pontchartrain,  wrote  himself 
to  the  French  resident,  on  the  10th  of  September,  1704  : 

"  It  has  been  discovered,  by  the  depositions  of  many 
of  the  religionist  convicts,  that  the  Sieur  Calandrin,  a 
minister  of  Geneva,  is  in  continual  relation  with  them,  and 
that  he  writes  to  them  very  often,  to  exhort  them  to  perse- 
vere in  their  disobedience,  to  prevent  those  among  them, 
whom  they  call  feeble,  from  returning  to  their  duty,  and  to 
offer  to  some  who  have  abjured  pensions  sufficiently  large  to 
persuade  them  to  retract.  He  sends  them  succors  in  money, 
which  are  distributed  every  day,  according  to  the  class  in 
which  each  is  marked ;  and  he  promises  them  more  consid- 
erable sums.  The  King  has  commanded  me  to  make  you 
acquainted  with  this,  and  to  write  you  his  will,  that  you 
should  make  complaints  to  the  Senate  of  these  proceedings, 
which  tend  to  maintain  his  subjects  in  disobedience  and  dis- 
order ;  and  to  demand  that  it  shall  give  such  precise  orders 
to  that  minister,  and  all  others,  that  none  of  them  shall  per- 

*  Book  of  the  Deliberations  of  the  Inspectors  of  the  Refugees,  in 
the  town  of  Berne,  June  10,  1696. 


240  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

sist  in  this  odious  commerce.  You  will  take  the  trouble  to 
inform  me  of  the  success  of  your  demands."  * 

This  time,  again,  the  feeble  Genevese  government  was 
obliged  to  -obey  the  injuctions  of  the  great  King.  But  his 
prohibitions  could  not  cool  the  ardent  sympathies  of.  the 
refugees  for  their  suffering  brethren,  who  were  too  often  ex- 
posed to  severities,  which  would  have  been  spared  to  true 
criminals.  •  Their  relations  with  them,  for  a  moment  inter- 
rupted, were  soon  renewed,  and  a  benevolent  fund  secretly 
established  at  Marseilles,  caused  the  relief  which  was  sent 
from  abroad,  to  reach  those  unfortunate  wretches.  After- 
ward, alone,  when  the  persecution  began  to  slacken,  a  part 
of  the  funds,  which  were  destined  for  them,  was  conse- 
crated to  the  Seminary  of  Lausanne.  When  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  liberty  of  religious  worship,  and  the  regular  or- 
ganization of  the  reformed  churches  in  France  had  caused 
that  religious  institution  to  disappear,  the  divers  endowments 
which  had  assured  its  existence,  ceased  to  have  a  precise 
object.  From  the  year  1795,  also,  England  sent  no  more 
money  to  the  Genevese  committee,  which  directed  its  admin- 
istration. The  treasury  itself  no  longer  exists  at  the  present 
day.  By  virtue  of  a  resolution  of  the  revolutionary  govern- 
ment, instituted  in  1846,  it  has  been  joined  to  the  hospital, 
and  its  funds,  which  still  amounted  to  about  a  million,  have 
since  been  employed  for  the  relief,  indiscriminately,  of  all 
the  citizens  of  the  Canton  ;  those  of  Genevese  as  well  as  of 
French  origin ;  those  of  the  Roman  Catholic  as  well  as  the 
"  reformed  "  faith.  By  a  strange  consequence,  the  radical 
revolution,  which  has  taken  place  in  this  little  state,  has 
effaced  even  the  last  vestiges  of  the  benefits  which  the  refu- 
gees had  received  from  the  ancient  republic,  and  which  had 
constituted  an  envied  privilege  in  favor  of  their  descendants. 

At  Lausanne,  as  at  Geneva,  the  two  classes  of  the  popu- 
lation, brought  together   by  the  every- day  relations  of  life, 

^  Archives  of  Geneva,     Historical  Documents,  No.  40*76. 


THE    FRENCH   EXCHANGE.  241 

by  numerous  marriages,  and  above  all,  by  the  community  of 
language  and  religion,  have  long  been  entirely  amalgamated. 
The  ancient  corporation,  however,  which  is  generally  desig- 
nated^under  the  name  of  the  French  Exchange,. still  pos- 
sesses rich  revenues,  which  belong  to  the  descendants  of  the 
families,  which  escaped  from  France  after  the  revocation. 

In  German  Switzerland,  in  Berne,  Bale,  and  Zurich,  the 
emigrants  have,  little  by  little,  adopted,  in  the  course  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  language  and  customs  of  the  people 
among  whom  they  live  dispersed.  A  pretty  large  number  of 
them  have  gone  successively  to  join  their  brethren,  establish- 
ed in  the  Pays  de  Vaud,  which  offered  them  a  most  faithful 
image  of  their  ancient  country.  The  colony  of  Berne,  how- 
ever, was  maintained  distinct  until  our  times,  but  since  1850 
it  is  joined  to  the  civil  corporation  of  Neuveville.  The  con- 
tract of  embodiment,  the  original  draft  of  which  is  deposited 
in  the  Archives  of  State  of  the  Canton,  sets  forth  that  the 
civil  community  of  Neuveville  receives  ir.to  its  corporation 
all  persons  belonging  to  the  commune  of  the  French  colony 
of  Berne;  that  this  reception  extends  not  only  to  persons 
actually  living,  but  to  all  their  descendants ;  and  that,  in  re- 
turn, the  French  colony  cedes  as  the  price  of  such  embodi- 
ment, to  the  civil  corporation  of  Neuveville,  all  the  fortune 
which  it  possesses,  namely,  94,683  Swiss  francs.  This  act, 
ratified  by  the  grand  council  of  Berne  in  1851,  thenceforth 
has  the  force  of  a  law,  and  regulates  for  ever  the  civil  and 
political  rights  of  the  descendants  of  the  Bernese  colony, 
although  stripped,  in  other  respects,  of  the  importance  it 
formerly  possessed.  In  fact,  the  last  census,  taken  in  1845, 
proved  the  existence  of  no  more  than  fourteen  families,  com- 
prising eighty-six  persons.  These  are  the  sole  remains  of 
more  than  two  hundred  families,  of  which  the  colony  was 
composed,  in  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  its  establishment. 
The  rest  are  either  extinct, — ^united  to  the  communities  of 
Romanish  Switzerland,  or  entirely  confounded  with  the  Ber- 

VOL,   II- — 11 


242  FRENCH   PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

nese  people.  These  fourteen  families  are  those  of  Courant, 
Leyris,  Ferrier,  George,  Gouzy,  GuirodoQ.  Lugardon,  Noga- 
ret,  Olivier,  Pag^s,  Pecholier,  Rieux,  Vieux,  andVolpilliere.* 
Almost  all  of  them  still  reside  in  the  town,  where  their  an- 
cestors established  themselves,  the  language  of  whom  they 
religiously  preserved,  as  a  distinctive  sign  of  their  origin. 
Some  of  them  have  recently  returned  to  France,  and  live  in 
Paris,  preserving,  however,  their  rights  as  members  of  the 
civil  corporation  of  Neuveville. 

*  List  of  the  Members  of  the  French  Colony  of  Berne.     Berne, 
1845.     In  German. 


BOOK  VII. 

OF  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  REFUGEES  IN  DENMARK,  SWE- 
DEN, AND  RUSSIA. 

CHAPTER    I. 


THE   EEFUGEES   IN   DENMAEK. 

Memoir  of  the  Bishop  of  Zealand  against  the  Refugees— Edict  of  Christian  V.,  in 
1681— The  Queen  Charlotte  Amelia— Second  Edict  of  1GS5— Colony  of  Copen- 
hagen— Colony  of  Altona — Colonies  of  Fredericia  and  Gluckstadt. 

Military  Refugees— Ordinance  of  Louis  XIV.— The  Count  of  Roye— Refugee 
sailors — Progress  of  agriculture  in  Denmark — Introduction  of  tobacco  culture — 
Rural  economy  of  the  planters  of  Fredericia — Progi-ess  of  navigation  and  com- 
merce—New manufactures— Literary  influence  of  the  Refugees— La  Plaeette — 
Mallet— Morality  of  the  Refugees — Examples  of  charity — Actual  condition  of 
the  colony  of  Fredericia— Actual  condition  of  the  colonies  of  Copenhagen  and 
Altona. 

Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Russia,  were  countries  too  distant 
and  too  poor  to  attract  a  great  number  of  refugees.  The 
difference  in  their  religious  worship,  besides,  contributed 
to  divert  the  attention  of  the  French  Calvinists  toward 
countries,  where  they  were  assured  of  finding  the  greatest 
advantages  and  the  kindest  reception.  The  Confession  of 
Augsburg,  adopted  in  Denmark  in  1530,  ruled  there  ex- 
clusively at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  the 
revolution  of  1660,  by  concentrating  all  power  in  the  hands 
of  the  monarch,  had  imposed  upon  him  the  obligation  to 
change  nothing  in  the  religion  of  the  State.     The  Lutheran 


244  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

orthodoxy,  at  that  period,  repulsed  the  doctrine  of  Calvin  as  a 
dangerous  heresy.  When  the  emigrants  disseminated  them- 
selves through  Brandenburgh,  and  the  question  of  attracting 
them  to  Denmark,  for  the  encouragement  of  manufactures,  was 
agitated.  Bagger,  the  Bishop  of  Zealand,  addressed  a  memorial 
to  King  Christian  V.,  to  terrify  him  on  account  of  the  dangers 
to  which  he  would  expose  himself,  by  granting  free  entrance 
into  his  kingdom  to  those  foreigners.*  "  When  God  shall 
judge  proper,"  said  he  to  that  prince,  "  to  raise  up  again 
this  poor  realm,  and  to  straighten  its  columns,  I  am  per- 
suaded that  he  will  inspire  your  Majesty  with  other  measures^ 
than  mixing  together  the  two  religions,  f  The  court  preacher 
was  likewise  animated  by  the  same  hateful  and  narrow  sen- 
timents. He  maintained  in  his  discourses,  that  the  power 
of  kings  is  of  divine  origin,  and  recognizes  no  other  superior 
than  God,  in  the  spiritual  as  well  as  the  temporal  order ; 
that  in  consequence,  it  is  their  interest  to  sustain  the  Lu- 
theran faith,  which  easily  accommodates  itself  to  absolute 
government,  and  to  opposo  .themselves  to  the  introduction  of 
Calvinism,  which  is  founded  upon  an  opposite  principle.  ;|; 
The  treaty  of  alliance  signed  between  France  and  Denmark, 
in  1682,  and  the  monthly  subsidy  of  fifty  thousand  crowns^ 
which  Louis  XIV.  payed  to  Christian  V.,  added  to  the  cold- 
ness against  the  refugees  with  which  it  was  his  object  to 
inspire  this  prince.^  Nevertheless,  after  the  year  1681, 
upon  the  news  of  the  first  dragoonings,  and  carrying  off  of 
the  children,  the  Danish  monarch  was  moved  to  compassion, 
and  published  a  declaration,  by  which  he  engaged  himself  to 

*  Allen.  Manual  of  th.e  History  of  the  Country,  pp.  490,  491.  In 
Danish. 

f  Catteau,  "  Picture  of  the  Danish  States,  vol.  iii.  p.  28.  Paris, 
1802. 

X  Allen,  p.  491. 

§  Dispatch  of  Cheverney,  ambassador  from  France  to  Denmark, 
Nov.  2d,  1688.  Archives  of  the  Mhiistr^'  of  Foreign  Affairs.  Mallet, 
"  History  of  Denraai'k,"  vol.  ix.  pp.  274,  275.     Geneva,  1788. 


CHRISTIAN    V.    OF    DENMARK.  245 

protect  the  refugees  who  might  seek  an  asylum  in  his  States, 
and  to  permit  them  to  build  temples,  with  the  assurance  that 
they  should  be  never  molested  in  the  exercise  of  their  re- 
ligion. He  promised,  beside,  to  exempt  the  mechanics  from 
the  payment  of  entry  duties  upon  their  household  furnitvire, 
and  the  implements  of  their  several  trades,  and  to  enfran- 
chise them  from  the  payment  of  all  taxes  for  eight  years, 
provided  that  they  took  the  oath  of  fidelity,  and  consented 
to  educate  their  children  in  the  Lutheran  religion.*  They 
were -not  delivered  from  that  last  obligation  until  in  1685, 
thanks  to  the  intercession  of  Charlotte  Amelia,  the  wife  of 
Christian  V.f  That  Queen,  who  was  distinguished  by  the 
greatest  virtues,  and  whose  memory  is  still  held  in  venera- 
tion in  Denmark,  was  the  daughter  of  William  VL,  Land- 
grave of  Hesse,  who  belonged  to  the  sect  of  Calvin,  and 
niece'  to  the  Princess  of  Tarentum,  who  had  herself  suffered 
in  France  for  the  Protestant  faith.  She  preserved  strict  re- 
lations with  the  Grand  Elector,  her  uncle,  who,  full  of  zeal 
for  the  refugees,  communicated  the  strong  sympathy  he  felt 
for  them  to  all  the  princes  who  partook  of  his  belief.  Thus, 
in  spite  of  'the  opposition  of  the  Lutheran  clergy,  and  the 
hostility  of  part  of  the  people,  the  exiles  were,  in  general, 
favorably  received.  In  1685,  the  King,  upon  the  reiterated 
requests  of  the  Queen,  and  the  pressing  prayers  of  the  Elec- 
tor, promulgated  a  new  edict  in  their  favor.  He  bound 
himself  to  receive  all  who  should  come  to  establish  them- 
selves in  his  States.  .  He  promised  to  grant  to  the  persons  of 
quality  and  nobles,  the  same  distinctions  which  were  their  right 
in  France ;  to  confer  upon  the  soldiers  the  same  rank  which 
they  had  possessed  in  the  French  army  ;  to  appoint  the  young 
gentlemen  to  posts  in  his  guards ;  and  to  give  houses  and 
advance  money  to  those  who  desired  to  create  manufactories, 

*  Erman   and   Reclam,   vol.   iv.   pp.   301,   302.        "Ecclesiastical 
Statistics,"  by  Staeudlin,  vol.  i.  p.  224.     In  German.  Tubingue,  1804. 
\  StaeudHn,  vol.  i.  p.  224. 


246  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

with  certain  privileges  and  immunities.*  That  edict  com- 
municated a  new  impulse  to  the  immigration  into  Denmark. 
Many  of  the  most  distinguished  among  the  refugees  had  al- 
ready repaired  thither  before  the  revocation  ;  and  one  of 
them,  the  Count  de  Roye,  had  become  marshal  of  the  Dan- 
ish troops.  A  crowd  of  others  soon  followed  them.  The 
commercial  relations  which  that  kingdom  entertained  with 
France,  would  have  doubtless  disposed  many  houses  of  Bor- 
deaux, La  Kochelle,  and  Nantes,  to  remove  to  Copenhagen, 
if  the  spirit  of  intolerance  had  not,  by  intentional  delays, 
thwarted  the  wise  measures  of  the  Court.  Those  families, 
enriched  by  business,  whom  they  ought  gladly  to  have 
welcomed,  carried  to  England  and  Holland  the  elements 
of  prosperity,  one  instant,  promised  to  Denmark.  The 
number  of  the  refugees,  nevertheless,  was  still  sufficient- 
ly considerable  for  them  to  form  a  church  at  Copenhagen, 
the  first  pastor  of  which  was  Menard,  the  son  of  the 
former  preacher  of  Charenton,  who  had  established  him- 
self at  the  Hague,  and  whom  the  Prince  of  Orange  had 
attached  to  his  person.  The  States  General  of  Holland 
granted  them  a  subsidy  of  a  thousand  florins,  to  aid 
them  in  building  a  temple. f  The  Queen  herself  laid  the 
first  stone  of  it  in  1 688  ;  and  she  created  beside  a  fund,  the 
revenue  of  which  she  destined  for  the  maintenance  of  the  pas- 
tors. To  give  more  eclat  to  that  first  French  colony,  she  under- 
took to  attract  thither  one  of  the  most  celebrated  orators  of 
the  Calvinistic  church,  Du  Bosc,  the  former  pastor  of  Caen. 
The  Count  de  Koye  and  the  Marquis  de  Laforest  oflTered 
him,  in  the  name  of  the  Queen,  great  advantages  for  himself 
and  his  family,  if  he  would  consent  to  establish  himself  at 
Copenhagen.  He  preferred  rather,  however,  to  accept  the 
pulpit  of  the  French  church  at  Rotterdam,  whither  a  great 
part  of  his  flock  had  retired.  The  Queen  obtained,  by 
means  of  Frederic  William,  that  Laplacette,  of  Pontac,  in 

*  Manuscripts  of  Antoine  Court,  in  the  Library  of  Geneva. 
\  Dispatch  of  the  Count  d'Avaux,  of  February  Hth,  leSt. 


FRENCH  COLONY  AT  ALTONA.  247 

Beam,  who  had  at  first  settled  in  Berlin,  and  who  had  been 
received  with  a  distinction  in  conformity  with  his  merit,  was 
sent  to  the  capital  of  Denmark,  and  she  appointed  him  the 
minister  of  the  church  of  which  she  was  the  founder.  In 
1699,  she  called  thither  Theodore  Blanc,  who  had  during 
six  years  exercised  the  duties  of  pastor  in  one  of  the 
French  churches  of  London.  But  she  was  not  always  suffi- 
ciently powerful  to  defend  that  feeble  community  against  the 
persistive  enmity  of  the  Bishop  of  Zealand  and  the  court 
preacher.  An  edict,  which  was  published  in  1690,  at  the 
request  of  those  two  zealots,  ordered  that  children  born 
of  mixed  marriages,  should  be  educated  in  the  religion  of 
the  State,  and  expressly  forbade  the  bells  to  be  rung  to 
call  the  "  reformed  "  to  divine  service.* 

A  second  French  colony  was  founded  at  Altona.  In 
1582,  that  town  had  already  served  as  a  place  of  retreat  to  a 
crowd  of  Walloons  whom  the  cruelties  of  the  Duke  of  Alba 
had  driven  from  the  Netherlands.  At  the  commencement 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  Count  Ernest  de  Schaumberg, 
sovereign  of  a  part  of  the  Duchy  of  Holstein,  permitted  them 
to  build  a  temple,  which  was  finished  in  1603,  and  in  which 
they  were  authorized  to  exercise  freely  the  forms  of  Calvinist 
worship.  That  community,  which  was  composed  of  Hol- 
landers, Germans,  and  French- Walloons,  was  served  at  the 
commencement  by  three  pastors,  who  preached  alternately  in 
those  three  languages.  But  the  French  group  having  been 
reinforced,  in  1686,  by  the  arrival  of  some  emigrants  from 
France,  a  separation  resulted  from  it,  and  two  reformed  com- 
munities were  formed,  one  of  which  was  French  and  the  other 
German  Dutch.  The  first  comprehended  not  only  the  French 
who  were  domiciliated  at  Altona,  but  also  those  who,  for 
commercial  reasons,  had  settled  at  Hamburgh,  and  who,  not 
being  able  to  obtain  either  from  the  magistrate  or  the  clergy 
the  liberty  of  public  worship,  joined  with  the  church  of  that 
*  Allen,  p.  491. 


248  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

neighboring  town.  Among  the  pastors  who  directed  that 
double  community,  the  most  celebrated  was  Isaac  de  Beau- 
sobre,  who  afterward  established  himself  at  Berlin.* 

Those  of  Copenhagen  and  Altona  were  not  the  only 
colonies,  which  were  formed  under  the  protection  of  the  Court 
of  Denmark.  Two  others  established  themselves  but  a  little 
later  at  Fredericia  and  Gluckstadt. 

The  town  of  Fredericia,  situated  on  the  borders  of  the 
little  Belt  in  Jutland,  owed  its  foundation  to  King  Frederic 
III.,  who  caused  it  to  be  built  in  1650,  upon  the  site  which 
was  afterwards  called  the  "  Field  of  the  Reformed."  Ruined, 
in  1657,  by  the  Swedish  G-eneral  Wrangel,  it  was  rebuilt  by 
the  same  prince  on  a  new  plan  at  some  distance  from  its  for- 
mer situation.  He  destined  it  to  become  a  stronghold  to 
cover  Jutland  and  Finland,  and  at  the  same  time  a  commer- 
cial town,  which  might  serve  as  a  storehouse  for  the  merchan- 
dise of  the  Baltic  Sea.  In  1 720,  Frederic  IV.  called  thither 
about  forty  French  families  who  had  taken  refuge  in  Bran- 
denburgh,  and  distributed  among  them  half  of  the  lands 
which  the  inhabitants  had  left  untilled  for  want  of  hands  to 
cultivate  them.f  Twenty  of  them  dispersed  themselves  in 
Zealand.  The  rest  remained  in  Fredericia,  and  received  in 
partition  the  so-called  "  Field  of  the  Reformed,"  which  was 
still  covered  with  the  ruins  of  the  houses  burned  by  the 
Swedes,  a  more  elevated  field  called  the  "  Seeberg,"  and 
some  pieces  of  land  designated  under  the  name  of  "  Kampen." 
The  King  permitted  them  to  form  a  community  separate 
from  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants,  with  the  promise  of  paying 
their  pastor  for  ten  years.  He  authorized  them  to  elect 
a  judge  to  determine  their  differences,  and  exempted  them 
from  all  imposts  for  twenty  years.      He  finally  recommended 

*  Erman  and  Reclam,  vol.  i.  p.  206.  Dispatch  of  M.  Cintrat,  French 
consul  at  Hamburgh,  of  May  12th,  1852.  Archives  of  the  Ministry  of 
Foreign  Affairs. 

f  Erman  and  Reclam,  vol,  vi.  p.  268. 


FRENCH    SOLDIERS    IN    DENMARK.  249 

them  to  the  special  protection  of  the  military  commandant, 
and  magistrates  of  the  city.* 

The  French  emigration,  into  Denmark,  was  chiefly  mili- 
tary and  agricultural.  A  certain  number  of  Huguenot  offi- 
cers took  service  in  the  Danish  troops.  On  the  12th  of  May, 
1689,  Louis  XIV.  ordered  that  those  of  his  subjects  who 
had  left  France  after  the  revocation,  and  who  had  entered 
the  army  of  the  King  of  Denmark,  should  enjoy  for  the  fu- 
ture the  revenue  of  half  the  property,  which  they  had  left  in 
the  kingdom,  on  condition  that  they  remitted  every  six 
months  a  formal  certificate  from  the  French  ambassador  at 
Copenhagen,  attesting  that  they  were  enrolled  under  the 
Danish  standard.  The  object  of  that  ordinance,  published 
on  the  frontiers  of  the  North,  was  to  cause  those  refugees 
to  leave  England  and  Holland,  who  had  taken  refuge 
in  those  two  countries  before  the  expedition  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange.  The  King  supposed  that  they  would  feel  a 
repugnance  to  bear  arms  against  their  ancient  country,  and 
endeavored  to  throw  open  to  them  a  new  asylum,  by  placing 
them  in  the  pay  of  a  monarch  who  would  at  least  observe 
neutrality.!  That  tardy  measure  failed  in  its  effect.  Very 
few  of  the  refugees  allowed  themselves  to  be  tempted  to  quit 
the  active  service  of  William  III.  for  that  of  a  pacific  prince 
who  could  offer  them  neither  glory  nor  wealth.  Neverthe- 
less, either  after,  or  before  that  ordinance,  the  Danish  army 
received  into  its  ranks  many  French  ofiicers  of  distinction. 
The  most  illustrious,  Frederic  Charles  de  La  Rochefoucault, 
Count  de  Roye  and  De  Rouci,  formerly  lieutenant-general  in 
'the  armies  of  Louis  XIV.,  was  appointed  grand  marshal 
and  commander-in-chief  of  all  the  Danish  forces.  Having 
left  France  before  the  revocation,  with  the  special  authority 

*  Historical  and  Statistical  Picture  of  the  establishment  of  the  Re- 
formed at  Fredericia,  by  Jean  Marc  Dalgas,  minister  of  the  Holy 
Gospel,  pp.  11,  12.     Copenhagen,  179*7. 

f  Manuscripts  of  Antoine  Court,  in  the  Library  of  Geneva. 

VOL.    II. 11* 


250  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

of  the  King,  he  was  rejoined  in  Denmark  by  the  Countess 
de  Roye,  whom  the  Court  of  France  did  not  dare  to  retain  ; 
but  she  could  only  bring  with  her  her  two  eldest  daughters, 
one  of  whom  afterward  espoused  in  England  the  Earl  of 
Straiford.  The  two  youngest,  and  two  sons  of  tender  age, 
were  taken  away  from  her,  to  be  sent  to  the  Count  de  Duras, 
their  uncle,  and  their  conversion  was  the  infallible  effect  of 
the  education  given  to  the  children  of  Protestants,  who  were 
brought  up  far  from  the  eyes  of  their  families.*  The  Mar- 
quis de  Laforest,  formerly  colonel,  was  appointed  captain  of 
a  company  of  the  lifeguard;!  and  powerfully  aided  by  his 
new  sovereign,  he  obtained  the  entire  restitution  of  his  pro- 
perty in  France.  As  he  was  connected  in  ties  of  friendship 
with  Marshal  Schaumberg,  Christian  V.  thought  one  instant 
of  sending  him  to  serve  in  the  army  of  William  III.,  whose 
triumph  he  foresaw.  But  he  recoiled  before  the  fear  of 
losing  the  pension,  which  he  owed  to  the  far-seeing  policy  of 
Louis  XIV.  "  Your  Majesty,"  wrote  the  French  ambassa- 
dor, "  can  judge  by  the  intrigues  of  this  Court,  and  ought  to 
be  fully  persuaded  that  she  will  always  take  sides  with  the 
strongest."!  Jean-Louis  de  Jaucourt,  Lord  of  Bussieres, 
after  having  at  first  fought  under  the  flag  of  Orange,  and 
been  covered  with  glory  at  the  siege  of  Neerwinden,  engaged 
in  the  service  of  the  King  of  Denmark,  and  died  a  colonel  at 
Copenhagen. §  Pierre  de  Montargues  passed  from  the  ranks 
of  the  Prussian  army  into  those  of  the  Danish,  and  died  a 
major-general,  at  Oldenburgh,  in  1768.||  "  There  are  many 
poor  French  officers  here,"  wrote  the  French  ambassador  at 
Copenhagen,  in  1687,  "who  could  perhaps  be  brought  over, 

*  Memoirs  of  Saint  Simon,  vol.  iii.  pp.  1 — 9.    Paris  edition,  1842. 
Erman  and  Reclam,  vol.  i.  p.  206. 

f  Dispatch  of  Chevei-ny,  December  11th,  1685. 
X  Dispatch  of  Cheverny,  of  November  2d,  1688. 
§  Erman  and  Reclam,  vol.  iii.  p.  103. 
II  Ibid.  vol.  vii.  p.  255. 


FRENCH    SAILORS    IN    DENMARK.  251 

if  they  were  assisted  to  pay  their  debts,  and  furnished  with 
the  wherewithal  to  return  to  France."  *  These  were  the 
brothers  of  La  Basse,  who  had  accompanied  the  Count  de 
Roye,  and  who  were  nephews  of  Madame  de  Regnier,  lady 
of  honor  to  the  Queen  of  Denmark,  who  had  left  France  be- 
fore the  revocation,  by  a  particular  favor,  due  to  the  inter- 
cession of  the  Marquis  de  Ruvigny ;  Susannet,  nephew  of 
the  academician  Dangeau,  formerly  captain  of  dragoons  in 
the  regiment  of  Tesse,  and  afterward  captain  in  Christian 
Vth's  regiment  of  guards  ;  La  Sarrie,  who  was  appointed 
captain  of  cavalry,  De  Cheusses,  Le  Baux,  and  many  others. 
Notwithstanding  the  temptations  of  the  representative  of 
Louis  XIV.,  they  were  sufficiently  numerous  in  1692  to  ob- 
tain that  a  French  chaplain  should  be  attached  to  the  Danish 
army,  and  the  synod  of  the  Netherlands,  which  was  sitting 
at  Breda,  to  which  they  addressed  themselves,  sent  them 
Daniel  Brunier.f 

To  the  Protestant  officers,  who  retired  to  Denmark,  we 
must  add  a  certain  number  of  sailors,  who  took  refuge  first 
in  Holland,  and  whom  the  Count  de  Koye,  through  the  me- 
diation of  a  secret  agent  at  Harlaem,  persuaded  to  enroll 
themselves  in  the  Danish  fleet.  These  were  for  the  most  part 
able  seamen,  formed  by  long  experience,  and  from  whom  im- 
portant services  were  expected,  for  they  endeavored  to  attract 
them  by  the  allurement  of  the  most  brilliant  rewards.  J  The 
refugees  powerfully  contributed  to  the  progress  of  agricul- 
ture in  the  Danish  monarchy.  Some  of  them  established 
themselves  in  Iceland,  and  brought  thither  the  culture  of  flax 
and  hemp.^       Others  settled  in  the  Danish  peninsula,  in  the 

*  Dispatch  of  Cheverny,  of  April  1st,  USi. 

f  Acts  of  the  Synod  of  the  Netherlands,  Synod  of  Breda,  Septem- 
ber, 1692. 

:j:  Instructions  sent  to  the  Count  d'Avaux,  during  his  embassy  to 
the  Hague  in  1685.     Archives  of  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

§  "  History  of  the  Pastors  of  the  Desert,"  by  Peyrat,  vol.  i.  p.  93. 


252  FE  e:\ch  ikotestant  refugees. 

islands  of  the  Baltic,  and  in  Holstein,  propagated  there  the 
superior  modes  of  French  agriculture,  and  introduced  many 
new  cultures,  the  most  important  of  which  was  that  of  to- 
bacco, which  they  had  already  acclimated  in  Braudenburgh, 
and  the  use  of  which  was  becoming  more  and  more  general  in 
the  north  of  Europe.  Grreat  quantities  were  exported  every 
year,  from  the  Prussian  states,  to  Denmark,  Sweden,  Poland, 
Silesia,  Bohemia,  and  even  to  Holland,  where  in  1720,  King 
Frederic  IV.  succeeded  by  his  promises  in  attracting  to  his 
kingdom  a  certain  number  of  those  skilful  planters,  and  in 
establishing  a  colony  of  them  at  Fredericia.  By  a  special 
privilege,  he  enfranchised  their  tobacco  for  twenty  years,  from 
all  the  taxes  to  which  the  other  merchandises  were  subjected 
upon  their  entry  into  the  towns  of  Denmark  and  Norwa3^ 
Although  it  was  exposed  to  all  the  variations  of  such  a  com- 
merce, fettered  in  the  sale  of  its  produce  by  the  jealousy  of 
the  Danish  population,  attacked  sometimes  even  in  its  pos- 
sessions by  stratagem  and  intrigue,  the  little  colony  of  Fred- 
ericia, did  not  deceive  the  expectations  of  its  ro3^al  founder. 
In  spite  of  obstacles,  it  did  not  cease  to  prosper  and  multi- 
ply to  the  degree  that,  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
it  formed  a  society  of  more  than  a  hundred  families,  composed 
of  from  five  to  six  hundred  persons,  who  had  gained  the  es- 
teem of  the  public  by  their  laborious  and  active  spirit.*  The 
town  of  Fredericia  owed  to  them  the  flourishing  state  to 
which  it  soon  raised  itself.  It  was  easy  to  be  convinced  of 
this  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  was  suffi- 
cient to  compare  the  magnificent  spectacle  of  its  fields,  with 
that  of  those  situated  around  the  other  Danish  towns,  which 
equally  owed  their  existence  to  agriculture.  The  difi"erence 
was  striking.  To  the  refugees  alone  belongs  the  glory  of 
having  produced  that  happy  change  ;  for  before  their  arrival, 

*  Dalgas,  p.  14.  According  to  Catteaa,  there  were  at  the  com- 
mencemeut  of  the  nineteenth  century,  in  Fredericia  and  its  environs, 
nearly  700  "reformed."     Vol.  iii.  p.  37. 


FREDERICIA.  253 

no  part  of  the  kingdom  presented  an  aspect  so  smiling,  and 
after  their  establishment,  nowhere  beside  did  the  earth  pro- 
duce finer  and  more  abundant  harvests  than  at  Fredericia.* 

The  rural  economy  of  the  French  planters,  which  was  af- 
terward imitated  in  many  provinces  of  the  Danish  monarchy, 
consisted  in  keeping  the  lands  always  clear,  in  thus  preparing 
them  to  receive  the  different  seeds,  in  varying  the  crops  from 
year  to  year,  in  order  not  to  exhaust  the  land  and  to  draw 
greater  advantage  from  them,  and  in  restoring  to  them  finally, 
every  five  or  six  years,  the  richness  they  had  lost.  This  me- 
thod presented  precious  advantages.  The  culture  of  tobacco, 
afterward  combined  with  that  of  potatoes,  cleared  the  lands 
and  rendered  them  suitable,  the  first  above  all,  to  produce 
magnificent  harvests  of  wheat.  Thus  purified,  the  soil  pro- 
duced a  purer  grain,  and  one  of  superior  quality.  The  me- 
thod of  the  colonists  was  not  only  advantageous  but  indis- 
pensable. Great  labor  was  necessary  to  make  the  argillace- 
ous lands  of  this  part  of  Jutland  valuable.  Thus  more  than 
one  cultivator,  who  tried  to  abandon  that  system,  saw  himself 
constrained  after  the  expiration  of  a  few  years  to  return  to 
it.f  The  refugees,  not  possessing  enough  land  to  occupy 
them  the  whole  year,  found  a  new  resource  in  farming  planta- 
tions on  shares.  The  landed  proprietors  of  the  town  put 
into  their  hands  every  year  a  certain  portion  of  their  fields 
to  cultivate,  and  above  all,  to  plant  tobacco.  The  French 
colonists  furnished  the  plants  and  the  manual  labor,  and> 
upon  the  sale  of  the  tobacco,  the  two  parties  divided  the  pro- 
duct in  equal  proportion.  This  agreement  was  profitable  to 
both  of  them.  The  cultivation  of  tobacco  ameliorated  the 
lands,  J  prepared  them  for  that  of  wheat,  and  procured  beside 
for  the  proprietor  an  immediate  profit.  The  planter  in  his 
turn  was  remunerated  in  proportion  to  his  labor.    The  French 

*  Dalgas,  p.  11.  t  Ib^d.,  p.  19.     Note. 

X  So  in  the   text ;  but  the  experience  of  Virginia   and  Maryland, 
shows  tobacco  to  be  the  most  exhausting  of  crops. — Translator's  note. 


254  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

colony  thus  farmed  from  two  to  three  hundred  "  tonnes  "*  of 
land  in  the  country  of  Fredericia,  and  by  its  system  of 
alternate  cultivation,  transformed  them  into  an  immense 
garden. t  It  also  furnished  to  the  great  proprietors  in  the 
neighborhood,  laborers,  mowers,  reapers  and  gardeners,  com- 
mendable by  their  skill  as  well  as  their  fidelity,  and  so  much 
the  more  useful  and  necessary,  that  after  the  partition  of  the 
public  lands  among  the  villagers,  that  class  of  workmen  had 
become  scarcer  and  more  sought  after. 

To  the  tobacco  and  potatoes,  which  the  refugees  intro- 
duced into  Fredericia,  and  to  the  wheat,  the  culture  of  which 
they  improved,  we  must  add  cabbages,  radishes,  turnips,  and 
many  other  vegetables,  which  were,  until  then,  unknown  in 
Denmark,  and  the  exportation  of  which  soon  brought  them 
considerable  sums.  J  These  divers  productions  formed  every 
year  the  cargo  of  many  shij3S.  Danish  navigation  received 
new  activity  from  them;  for  the  merchants  of  Fredericia 
found  themselves  in  possession  of  a  branch  of  commerce, 
which  was  an  inexhaustible  source  of  wealth  to  them.  They 
sold  the  wheat  harvested  by  the  colonists  for  a  third  more 
than  that  of  the  other  provinces.  Tobacco  alone  annually 
yielded  from  15  to  20,000  rixthalers,  and  during  the  Ameri- 
can war,  that  branch  of  business  brought  them  from  30  to 
35,000.  They  bought,  in  exchange,  the  various  objects  of 
which  the  inhabitants  had  need  for  their  own  consumption. 
Thanks  to  the  refugees,  Fredericia,  which  was,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  eighteenth  century,  no  more  than  a  poor 
hamlet,  was  considered,  less  than  a  hundred  years  afterward, 
among  the  most  opulent  towns  of  Jutland.  The  agricultural 
colony  of  Fredericia,  then,  contributed  to  the  progress  of  the 
Danish  commerce.     The  national  industry  also  owed  to  it  a 

*  The  only  word  analogous  to  this  to  be  found,  is  "  tonne,"  which 
in  Holland  means  the  sum  of  a  hundred  thousand  florins. — Transla- 
tor's note. 

f  Dalgas.,  p.  33.  %  Dalgas,  p.  20.     Xote. 


THE    NICHOLAS    OF    THE    PROTESTANTS.  255 

happy  impulse.  The  refugees  furnished  to  the  country  far- 
riers, coopers,  weavers,  glass  manufacturers,  and,  above  all, 
workmen  for  the  manufactories  of  cloths  and  those  of  tobacco.* 
The  persecution  had  caused  Jean  Henri  de  Moor,  one  of  the 
most  skilful  manufacturers  of  mirrors,  to  leave  France  ;  he 
was  doubtless  descended  from  one  of  those  Dutch  families, 
which  Colbert  had  attracted  to  the  kingdom,  to  cause  those 
kinds  of  manufactures  to  flourish  there.  He  established 
himself  at  Copenhagen,  and  brought  thither  his  workmen, 
thus  first  bringing  into  Denmark  a  branch  of  industry,  which 
was  until  that  time  unknown  in  that  country. f  When,  in 
1686,  the  Marquis  of  Bonrepaus  succeeded  in  sending  back 
to  France  the  workmen  of  a  refugee,  who  had  founded  a  man- 
ufactory of  bleached  linens  at  Ipswich,  the  manufacturer 
quitted  England  for  Denmark,  and  likewise  transported 
thither  his  looms.  J 

The  literary  influence  of  the  refugees  in  Denmark  was 
naturally  much  restricted.  Placed  in  a  small  number  amidst 
a  people,  whose  dispositions  difi"ered  profoundly  from  their 
own,  they  could  not  exercise  over  it  that  civilizing  ascend- 
ency, in  which  they  had  elsewhere  taken  the  fruitful  initia- 
tive. They  gave  to  it,  however,  two  writers.  La  Placette 
and  Mallet,  who  were  not  without  some  influence  over  their 
minds.  The  former,  who  has  been  surnamed  the  Nicholas 
of  the  Protestants,  was  one  of  the  most  renowned  pastors  of 
Beam,  when  he  was  forced  to  quit  the  kingdom,  in  1685. 
Having  at  first  retired  to  Berlin,  he  was  invited  by  the  Queen 
to  Copenhagen,  and  passed  twenty-five  years  in  the  midst  of 
the  French  colony  which  was  established  in  that  city.  Then, 
seeking  a  place  of  repose  for  his  old  age,  he  r-epaired  to  Hol- 
land, and  terminated  his  life  in  the  society  of  the  refugees 
settled  at  Utrecht,  in  1718,  aged  eighty  years. 

*  Dalgas,  p.  32. 

f  Erman  and  Reclam,  vol.  v.  p.  202. 

:j:  Dispatch  of  Bonrepaus  to  Seignelay,  of  March  28ih,  1686. 


256  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

The  numerous  works  of  La  Placette  were  all  composed 
during  his  exile.  A  Christian  moralist  like  Nicholas,  he  un- 
dertoolj  for  his  co-religionists  what  the  writer  of  Port  Rojal 
had  done  for  his  in  his  "  Essays. "  No  one  professed  a  more 
sincere  admiration  for  that  able  controvertist,  the  most  for- 
midable, perhaps,  after  Arnauld,  of  the  hardy  combatants, 
whom  Jansenism  launched  against  the  reform.  He  essayed 
nevertheless  to  recommence  the  work,  which  had  been  ac- 
complished with  such  success  by  him  who  he  proposed  to 
himself  as  a  model.  The  motives  which  he  alleged  in  justi- 
fication of  his  attempt,  sufficiently  make  known  the  nature 
of  his  mind. 

"  I  admit,"  said  he,  speaking  of  the  essays  of  Nicholas, 
"  that  it  is  an  excellent  work,  and  that  much  profit  may  be 
derived  from  reading  it.     But  I  do  not  think  that  it  ought 
to  prevent  us  from  working  on  our  side  on  the  subject  of 
Christian  morality.     In  the  first  place,  that  morality  is  of 
so  vast  an  extent,  that  neither  the  work  of  which  I  speak, 
nor  many  other  similar  works,  can  possibly  exhaust  it.     It  is 
a  source  of  instruction,  which  can  never  dry  up.     Besides,  the 
teachings  of  that  author,  rambling  ordinarily  through  the 
hypotheses  of  the  religion  he  professes,  are  often  useless,  and 
always  suspected  by  the  Protestants,  who  fear,  in  reading 
them,  to  take  dangerous  errors  for  salutary  truths.     Besides 
this,  the  author  usually  flies  so  high,  that  there  are  many 
readers  who  have  difficulty  in  following  him.     He  even  utters 
some  extravagant  maxims,  which  cause  the  truth,  of  those  which 
are  most  solid,  to  be  doubted.     Thus,  that  book,  however 
perfect  it  may  appear,  does  not  forbid  us  from  making  ano- 
ther, if  not  finer  or  better  written,  which  would  be  difficult, 
more  useful  at  least  for  Protestants,  more  in  conformity  with 
their  hypotheses,  more  proportionate   to  the  understanding 
of  all  classes  of  readers,  and  more  proper,  in  a  word,  to 
make  known  the  obligations  of  Christianity  and  their   true 
extent."  * 

*  Preface  of  the  Essays  on  Morality. 


LA    PLACETTE.  257 

But  apart  from  the  analogy  of  their  object,  the  two  mor- 
alist writers  resembled  one  another  little,  and  the  superiority 
of  Nicholasis  immense.  Distant  from  France,  which  was 
then  almost  the  sole  centre  of  all  literary  movements,  and 
placed  in  the  midst  of  a  little  society  of  refugees  strongly 
attached  to  their  belief,  but  preoccupied  with  creating  for 
themselves  a  new  existence,  La  Placette  should  have  confined 
himself  to  being  useful,  and  to  convince  and  edify  his  flock. 
He  succeeded,  in  fact,  in  presenting  just  ideas  with  a  re- 
markable degree  of  clearness,  and  it  has  been  said,  not  un- 
reasonably, that  in  his  books  Christian  morality  is  the  most 
admirably  classified  of  sciences.*  But  neither  poetry,  nor 
eloquence,  nor  vivid  zeal,  can  be  found  in  them.  It  is  true, 
that  they  are  equally  exempt  from  coldness  and  dryness,  and 
that  the  presence  of  a  calm,  serene,  and  profoundly  Christian 
soul  is  every  where  felt  in  them.  La  Placette  preserved  a 
keen  taste  for  the  beauties  of  style  and  thought.  But,  in 
that  respect,  he  confined  himself  to  the  memories  of  his 
youth.  He  quotes  in  his  works  Godeau,  Brebeuf,  and  La 
Bruyere ;  but  he  says  nothing  of  Boileau,  nor  Bacine,  who 
were  so  familiar  to  most  of  the  refugees  established  in  Hol- 
land. That  which  he  praises  in  the  writings  that  please  him, 
are  the  features  which,  in  fact,  deserve  praises  ;  witness  these 
fine  lines  of  Brebeuf,  which  are  in  imitation  of  Lucan,  and 
relate  to  the  invention  of  writing : 

"  C'est  de  lui  que  nous  vint  cet  art  ingenieux 
De  peindre  la  parole  et  de  parler  aux  yeux, 
Et,  par  les  traits  divers  de  figures  tracees, 
Donner  de  la  couleur  et  du  corps  aux  pensees," 

He  also  greatly  admired  this  quartrain  by  Godeau,  and  he 
gives  us  his  reason  for  it : 

"  La  vie  est  proclie  de  la  niort, 
Loi'squ'on  Ten  croit  plus  e'loignee  : 

*  History  of  Foreign  French  Literature,  by  M.  Sayous,  vol.  ii.  p. 
216.     Paris,  1863. 


258  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

C'est  line  toile  dViraignee 

Que  se  file  avec  peine  et  se  rompt  sans  effort." 

"  I  was  charmed,"  says  he,  "  with  these  four  lines  the  first 
time  that  I  read  them,  and  I  am  so  still  whenever  they  recur 
to  ni}^  mind.  But  what  is  it,  in  which  the  beauty  of  this 
thought  consists  ?  Its  expression  is  fine,  noble,  and  natural ; 
but  in  this  respect  even  it  contains  nothing  extraordinary. 
What  is  it,  then,  which  is  most  pleasing  in  them  ?  It  is,  in 
my  apprehension,  the  sweetness  which  is  remarkable  therein, 
it  is  the  exactness  of  its  truth,  it  is  the  justness  of  its  im- 
agery, it  is  its  utility  which  renders  it  so  worthy  to  be  medi- 
tated ;  it  is,  in  conclusion,  that  it  possesses  something  touch- 
ing, which  makes  itself  felt,  and  is  felt  even  with  pleasure, 
so  that  one  cannot  avoid  giving  it  his  attention."  These 
are,  indeed,  judicious  words ;  but  nothing  could  encourage 
the  exiled  writer  to  give  to  his  own  style  that  poetic  adorn- 
ment which  he  appreciated  with  so  much  taste  in  others. 
By  the  side  of  La  Placette  must  be  placed  a  man  of  more  ele- 
vated genius,  but  whose  life,  divided  between  Greneva  and 
Copenhagen,  casts  no  less  brilliancy  over  his  native  town 
than  his  adopted  countr}^  The  Genevese  Mallet,  who  be- 
longed, on  his  mother's  side,  to  a  refugee  family  of  Cham- 
pagne, was  called  in  1752  to  the  capital  of  Denmark,  to  fill 
the  chair  of  professor-royal  of  French  belles-lettres,  founded 
two  years  before  in  favor  of  La  Baumelle,  and  which  had 
become  vacant  by  the  return  of  the  latter  to  France.  The 
charms  of  his  conversation,  and  the  gayety  of  his  disposition 
made  him  to  be  sought  by  the  most  eminent  men.  lie  en 
joyed  the  favor  of  the  court  and  the  ministers.  The  latter 
even,  who,  by  their  rank,  considered  themselves  his  superiors 
rendered  homage  to  the  distinction  of  his  manners,  the  no 
bility  of  his  thoughts  and  discourses,  and  the  dignity  and 
elevation  of  his  character.  He  was  at  Copenhagen  the  true 
representative  of  that  French  urbanity  which  the  refugees 
propagated  wherever   they  were  received.     But  there  was 


MALLET.  259 

but  a  small  number  of  the  Danes,  who  understood  French 
well  enough  to  follow  with  advantage  the  lectures  on  poetry 
and  eloquence  which  were  delivered  in  a  foreign  tongue,  and 
the  professor  often  found  himself  without  pupils ;  when  he 
resolved  to  turn  his  leisure  time  to  profit  by  composing  the 
history  of  Denmark.  The  history  of  that  country,  which 
was  at  that  epoch  almost  unknown  in  France,  had,  until  then, 
been  written  in  an  incomplete  and  careless  manner.  Learn- 
ed Danes  had  labored  to  get  together  materials  and  collect 
traditions.  Applying  themselves,  above  all,  to  rescue  from 
oblivion  the  poetry  of  the  Icelanders,  and  their  marvellous 
legends,  they  had  compiled  many  precious  documents,  from 
which  no  one  had  as  yet  really  gained  advantage.  German 
literature  had  then  scarcely  begun  to  arise,  and  French 
was  regarded  as  the  only  polite  language,  the  only  one  which 
was  generally  spread  abroad,  the  only  one,  in  a  word,  which 
it  was  supposed  would  one  day  become  the  common  idiom 
of  the  most  polished  people.  The  oratorical  talent  of  Mal- 
let, the  exquisite  purity  of  his  diction,  the  art  with  which  he 
knew  how  to  relate,  and,  lastly,  the  taste  which  he  testified 
for  the  study  of  Scandinavian  antiquities,  determined  the 
Count  of  Bernstorf,  his  first  protector,  and  the  Count  de 
Moltke,  the  grand  marshal  of  the  palace,  to  propose  to  him 
to  write  the  history  of  the  country,  in  which  he  had  estab- 
lished himself,  and  to  encourage  him  in  that  enterprise,  by 
promising  him  the  concurrence  of  the  government  in  all  the 
researches,  which  would  be  necessary  for  the  execution  of 
such  a  work.  He  first  clearly  showed  the  part  of  the 
Scandinavian  element  in  the  civilization  of  the  French,  the 
English,  the  Spanish,  the  Italians,  and  all  the  people  gen- 
erally, who  are  formed  from  the  mixture  of  the  degenerate 
descendants  of  the  Romans,  with  the  vigorous  children  of 
the  North. 

"  All  those  people,"  says  Sismondi,  in  his  fine  Notice  on 
the  Life  and  Writings  of  Mallet,  "  have  united  the  two  heri- 


2G0  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

tages  of  the  North  and  the  South ;  but,  in  order  to  separate 
what  belongs  to  each,  the  study  of  the  people  of  the  North 
in  their  original  state,  the  study  of  their  manners  and  laws, 
their  religion,  and  the  liberty  of  Scandinavia,  becomes  of 
the  greatest  importance,  not  only  to  the  Scandinavians,  but 
to  all  Europeans.  The  introduction  to  the  history  of  Den- 
mark was  written  in  a  manner  worthy  of  so  elevated  an  aim 
The  arrival  of  Odin  in  Scandinavia,  the  conqueror  and  legis 
lator  of  the  North,  the  sombre  and  severe,  but  highly  poetic 
religion  which  he  gave  to  the  people  he  governed,  the  hero 
ism  of  a  new  nature  with  which  he  inspired  his  warriors 
that  impetuous  passion  which  he  knew  how  to  give  them, 
not  for  liberty,  not  for  power  or  wealth,  not  for  luxury,  but 
for  the  dangers  by  means  of  which  they  acquired  or  defended 
those  things ;  that  passion  for  the  means,  rather  than  the 
end,  a  character  which  is  found  in  modern  prowess,  and 
which,  perhaps,  we  owe  to  the  Scandinavians ;  the  liberty  of 
the  North,  the  poetry  of  the  North ;  the  hazardous  enter- 
prises, the  maritime  expeditions,  the  conquests  and  discover- 
ies of  unknown  shores,  which  were  the  exploits  of  those 
same  men, — such  it  is,  which  composed  the  first  part  of 
the  introduction  to  the  history  of  Denmark." 

"A  second  part  of  that  work,  no  less  important  and  no 
less  celebrated,  was  the  translation,  accompanied  by  a  com- 
mentary, of  the  poetical  pieces  which  painted  in  the  best 
manner  the  religion  and  morals  of  the  Northern  people.  The 
most  renowned  of  these  poems  is  the  Edda.  ...  It  had 
already  appeared,  in  1665.  .  .  .  But  that  book,  which  gives 
the  key  to  the  whole  Northern  Mythology,  was  scarcely 
known  to  the  rest  of  Europe  before  the  translation  of  Mallet. 
Since  that  time,  awakened  curiosity  has  been  directed  with 
more  activity  toward  the  same  study;  the  religion  of  the 
Scandinavians  has  been  developed  and  explained  more  clear- 
ly ;  and  it  has  become,  up  to  a  certain  point,  familiar  to  men 
of  letters.     It  is  nevertheless  to  Mallet  that  we  must  attri- 


HUGUETAN.  26 1 

bute  even  tlie  progress  which  was  made  after  him.  It  is  he, 
who,  by  increasing  the  interest  of  a  subject,  until  then  arid, 
has  given  an  impulse  to  the  research  of  those  who  have  fol- 
lowed him." 

We  have  considered  it  our  duty  to  quote  entire  this  in- 
genious passage  of  Sismondi,  which  presents  to  us  the  singu- 
lar spectacle  of  a  descendant  of  a  French  Protestant  family 
transported  to  Denmark,  and  teaching  Europe  the  mythology, 
poetry,  and  history  of  the  people  of  the  North,  whose  influ- 
ence it  had  felt  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  without  giv- 
ing them  credit  for  that,  so  powerful  element  of  its  civiliza- 
tion. The  other  worSs  of  Mallet,  his  ''  History  of  the 
Swiss,"  his  "  History  of  the  Houses  of  Brunswick  and 
Hesse,"  his  "  Study  on  the  Hanseatic  League,"  and  his 
"  Travels  in  Norway,"  added  still  more  to  his  reputation. 
Upon  his  return  to  Geneva,  after  a  sojourn  of  eight  years  in 
Copenhagen,  he  was  appointed  corresponding  member  of  the 
Academy  of  Inscriptions.  He  passed  the  rest  of  his  life  in 
his  native  town,  where  he  died  in  1807,  surrounded  by  the 
respect  of  his  fellow-citizens,  and  the  esteem  of  scientific 
Europe. 

The  French  refugees  in  Denmark  gave,  during  the  whole 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  up  to  our  days,  the  example 
of  the  severest  manners,  the  most  irreproachable  morality, 
and  the  most  touching  charity.  Huguetan,  Count  of  Gruld- 
ensteen,  who  died  at  Copenhagen  in  1749,  in  the  eighty- 
sixth  year  of  his  age,  was  all  his  life  the  benefactor  of  the 
poor.  He  sustained,  by  his  donations,  the  first  colonists  of 
Fredericia,  contributed  to  the  construction  of  the  temple, 
which  was  inaugurated  in  1736,  and  left  a  rich  fund  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  pastors.  His  son,  who  was  privy  coun- 
cillor to  King  Christian  VII.,  Frangois  Bretonville,  Moise 
HoUard,  Suzanne  Latour,  and  Suzanne  Mariot,  also  disposed 
of  a  part  of  their  fortunes  in  behalf  of  their  brethren  in  the 
land  of  exile.     All  the  emigrants  made  themselves  remark- 


262  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

able  by  their  love  of  labor,  and  the  frugality  of  their  lives. 
Vegetables,  milk,  and  bread  often  composed  the  repast  of  a 
whole  family.  Nothing  less  than  those  habits  of  order  and 
that  rigid  economy  would  have  sustained  them  in  the  begin- 
ning, and  aided  them  in  raising  themselves  little  by  little  to 
that  degree  of  ease,  which  recompensed  their  efforts. 

Of  the  four  colonies,  which  they  founded,  that  of  Frede- 
ricia,  which  was  the  most  recent,  is  also  the  one  which  is  in 
the  best  state  of  preservation  in  our  days.  Many  causes 
have  contributed  to  this  result.  At  first,  the  colonists  inter- 
married among  themselves ;  not  that  a  narrow  party  spirit 
deterred  them  from  allying  themselves  to  the  Danish  families, 
but  because  they  preferred  to  unite  themselves  to  persons, 
whose  circumstances  and  conditions  gave  them  more  certain 
guarantees  of  happiness..  The  attachment  they  felt  for  their 
own  body,  and  the  fear  lest  the  difi"erence  of  religion,  small 
as  it  was,  might  become  a  source  of  divisions  in  the  commu- 
nity, dictated  that  line  of  conduct.  Another  and  still  more 
strong  reason  induced  them  never  to  deviate  from  it :  this 
was  that  of  interest.  By  the  terms  of  the  privileges  con- 
ceded by  Frederic  IV.,  the  lands  had  been  granted,  not  to 
indivictuals^  but  to  the  "  reformed  ''''families^  and  those  pri- 
vileges only  applied  to  families  the  two  heads  of  which  be- 
longed to  the  religion  of  Calvin.  It  is  necessary  to  add  that 
the  colony  of  Fredericia  always  endeavored  to  retain  its 
young  men  near  the  domestic  hearth.  While  elsewhere  they 
were  seen  to  quit  the  roof  of  their  parents,  to  improve 
themselves  in  their  professions  on  a  foreign  soil,  and  often 
brought  back  nothing  to  their  native  country  but  depraved 
morals  and  bodies  worn  out  by  debauchery ;  at  Fredericia 
they  lived  under  the  eyes  of  their  kinsmen,  far  from  every 
example  of  corruption,  and  their  simple  and  austere  habits 
assured  the  fecundity  of  their  marriages,  with  which  inclina- 
tion had  infinitely  more  to  do  than  calculation.  The  young 
girls,  on  their  side,  were  more  disposed  to  conduct  themselves 


FRENCH    COLONIES.  263 

well,  througli  the  hope  of  being  soon  established  in  life,  and 
they  more  rarely  swerved  from  their  duty,  so  as  not  to  be 
exposed  to  remain  without  husbands  in  the  colony.  Strangers 
to  libertinism,  which  vitiates  at  once  both  the  body  and 
mind ;  exempt  from  luxury,  which  creates  new  wants,  and 
often  prevents  the  man  from  thinking  on  the  choice  of  a 
wife,  the  colonists  married  young,  and  were  thus  assured  of 
a  healthy  and  numerous  posterity.  And  lastly,  through  an 
unalterable  confidence  in  divine  Providence,  they  considered 
a  great  number  of  children  a  source  of  wealth.  Swarms  of 
children  followed  their  parents  to  work  in  the  morning, 
loaded  with  the  implements  of  labor.  Assured  of  their  sub- 
sistence, and  never  distrustful  of  the  future,  the  more  arms 
they  had  to  aid  them  the  more  work  they  undertook,  which 
contributed  to  their  well-being,  and  permitted  them  to  hold 
a  rank  in  society  proportionate  to  their  modest  desires.  It 
is  to  these  causes,  that  the  colony  of  Fredericia  has  owed 
both  its  long  prosperity  and  the  preservation  of  its  primitive 
character.  It  has  remained  a  French  society  in  the  midst  of 
a  foreign  people,  and  religious  worship  is  to-day  still  cele- 
brated there  in  the  language  which  its  first  founders  spoke. 
A  French  church  likewise  exists  in  Copenhagen,  but  it  has 
only  been  able  to  sustain  itself  to  our  days,  thanks  to  the  so- 
journ of  French  Protestant  families,  whom  divers  interests 
have  led  from  all  time  to  the  capital  of  Denmark.  Mixed 
marriages  have  hastened  the  sufficiently  rapid  decay  of  that 
colony.  The  children  born  of  French  fathers  and  Danish 
mothers  were  almost  always  educated  in  the  Lutheran  faith, 
in  conformity  with  the  law  of  the  kingdom.  Thus  the  re- 
formed temple  soon  remained  almost  deserted,  and  the  com- 
munity became  necessarily  reduced  to  a  more  and  more  re- 
stricted number  of  families.  That  of  Altona  was  divided 
into  two,  in  1761,  by  the  retreat  of  the"  reformed  "  French  of 
Hamburgh,  who  were  at  last  authorized  to  celebrate  their 
religious  worship  at  the  chapel,  and  under  the  protection  of 


264  FRENCH   PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

the  Consul  of  Holland.  The  refugee  colony  of  that  city,  al- 
though considerably  reduced  by  that  defection,  existed  until 
1831.  Its  remains  were  then  joined  to  the  German  Dutch 
community,  which  took  the  name  of  the  Evangelical  Reformed 
Church.  French,  nevertheless,  is  still  preached  once  a 
month  in  Altona  ;  but  it  is  with  difficulty  that  some  old  man 
can  be  found  among  the  slender  auditory,  who  is  able  to  com- 
prehend the  words  of  the  preacher.* 

*  Dispatch  of  M.  Ciutrat,  Consul  at  Hamburgh,  of  May,  12t]i,  1852. 


CHAPTER    II. 


THE  EEFTJGEES  IN   SWEDEN. 


Intervention  of  Charles  XL  in  favor  of  the  Alsatian  Lutherans — Protection  grant- 
ed to  the  Refugees  at  Stockholm— Lutheran  Intolerance— New  Eefugees  under 
Charles  XIL 

Sweden  received  but  a  very  small  number  of  tbe  fugi- 
tives. Upon  the  news  of  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  the  Swedish  monarch,  Charles  XL,  contented  him- 
self with  interposing,  near  the  Cabinet  of  Versailles,  in  favor 
of  the  Lutherans  of  Alsatia,  to  whom  the  ministers  of  Louis 
XIV.  were  preparing  to  send  dragoons.  His  ambassador 
in  France,  the  Count  de  Lilieroot,  invoked  the  Treaty  of 
Westphalia,  of  which  the  King  of  Sweden  was  one  of  the 
sureties,  and  which  assured  to  the  Alsatian  Protestants  the 
free  exercise  of  their  religion.*  This  reclamation,  founded 
upon  the  conditions  stipulated  in  1648,  and  which  then 
formed  the  basis  of  European  public  law,  and,  perhaps,  also 
the  imminence  of  the  war,  which  broke  out  in  1688,  deterred 
the  great  king  from  the  project  of  forcibly  converting  a  pro- 
vince recently  acquired,  and  which  it  was  his  interest  to  spare. 
It  was  not  until  under  the  reign  of  Louis  XV.  that  it  was, 
in  its  turn,  subjected  to  the  rule  of  the  booted  missions, 
from  which,  throughout  the  whole  of  France,  the  city  of 
Strasburg  alone  was  preserved. 

*  Dispatch  of  Trumbull  to  the  Duke  of  Sunderland,  of  January 
20,  1686.     State  Papers,  France,  1686. 
VOL.  II — 12 


266  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

Some  refugees,  natives  of  Paris,  saved  a  portion  of  their 
fortunes,  by  intrusting  it  to  the  Swedish  embassy,  and  above 
all  others,  to  the  Sieur  Palmeguiste,  the  secretary  of  the 
Count  de  Lilieroot,  who  restored  to  them  upon  their  arrival 
in  Holland,  the  sums  which  they  had  left  with  him  on  de- 
posit.* King  Charles  XI.  permitted  a  collection  to  be 
organized  in  Stockholm,  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  among 
the  refugees.  He  granted  privileges,  and  even  distributed 
money  among  the  merchants  and  manufacturers,  who  came  to 
establish  themselves  in  his  States.  He  authorized  them  to 
exercise  their  religious  worship  freely,  in  two  churches,  in 
his  capital.  But  the  order  to  have  their  children  baptized 
by  Lutheran  ministers,  gave  rise  to  discouragement  among 
them,  and  prevented  many  new  fugitives  from  seeking  an 
asylum  in  a  country,  which  showed  so  little  toleration. 
Nevertheless,  in  1698,  under  the  reign  of  Charles  XIL, 
some  hundreds  of  French  exiles,  who  had  not  been  able  to 
find  their  subsistence  in  Holland,  went  to  settle  in  the  Grer- 
man  provinces  of  the  Swedish  monarchy,  where  lands  were 
distributed  among  them,  upon  the  praj-er  of  the  States  Gen- 
eral of  Holland. 

*  Dispatch  of  Saint-Didier.  The  Hague,  November  15,  1685.  Ar- 
chives of  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs. 


CHAPTER    III 


THE   EEFUGEES    IN   EUSSIA. 


Letter  of  Frederic  William  to  the  Grand  Dukes  of  Moscow — Colony  of  Eefugees 
at  Moscow— Letter  of  Frederic  III.— Ukase  of  16S8  in  favor  of  ttie  Eefugees — 
Lefort's  Eegiment— Colony  of  Refugees  at  St.  Petersburg— Its  relations  with 
Geneva, 

Russia  showed  herself  more  hospitable  than  Sweden  toward 
the  refugees.  The  Elector  Frederic  William  had  written  in 
their  favor  to  the  young  Peter,  and  to  his  brother  Ivan  V., 
and  had  communicated  to  them  the  ardent  zeal  and  lively 
compassion,  which  he  felt  himself  for  those  unfortunate  peo- 
ple. The  following  letter,  which  he  received  from  his  am- 
bassador at  Stockholm,  shows  us  what  a  generous  reception 
he  had  prepared  for  them  in  that  country,  which  the  genius 
of  one  great  man  was  soon  about  to  drag  from  the  barbarism 
in  which  it  was  plunged,  to  elevate  it  to  the  preponderating 
rank  of  power  in  the  North. 

"  M.  le  comte  Gustavo  de  La  Gardie  has  received  letters 
from  Moscow,  by  which  he  is  informed  that  there  is  a  pro- 
digious number  of  the  French  'reformed'  established  there; 
that  the  Czars  have  received  them  perfectly  well ;  that  they 
have  granted  them  the  public  exercise  of  their  religion,  to- 
gether with  many  privileges  and  immunities.  Strange 
metamorphosis,  my  lord,  that  France,  which  was  formerly  so 


268  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

polite  and  so  full  of  humanity,  should  become  barbarous  to 
that  degree,  that  the  most  faithful  subjects  of  the  King  of 
France  should  be  obliged  to  seek  an  asylum  in  Muscovy ; 
and  that  they  should  find  there  that  repose  and  safety  which 
they  cannot  find  in  their  own  country.* 

After  the  death  of  Frederic  William,  his  son,  Frederic 
III.,  sent  Jean  R.eyer  Chapliez  to  Moscow,  to  notify  the 
Court  of  Russia  of  his  accession  to  the  throne,  and  to  solicit 
at  the  same  time  a  free  entry  into  all  parts  of  the  empire,  in 
favor  of  those  French  colonists,  whom  circumstances  might 
lead  thither  in  search  of  shelter.  He  thus  showed  himself 
the  worthy  successor  of  his  father,  and  proved,  like  him,  that 
policy  was  not  the  only  motive  for  his  conduct  toward  the 
refugees.  His  demand  was  granted  on  the  spot,  f  An  im- 
perial ukase,  published  in  1688,  and  invested  with  the  sig- 
natures of  Peter  and  Ivan,  opened  all  the  Russian  provinces 
to  the  Protestant  fugitives ;  guaranteed  to  the  soldiers  em- 
ployment in  the  national  army,  with  treatment  proportionate 
to  their  rank,  and  left  them  the  power  of  freely  leaving  the 
service,  if  they  should  one  day  desire  to  return  to  their 
former  country.  J  Perhaps  Lefort,  the  Genevese,  who  was 
at  that  time  seeking  to  initiate  Peter  into  the  secrets  of  the 
sciences  and  civilization  of  Europe,  was  not  a  stranger  to  that 
humane  as  well  as  able  measure.  According  to  Voltaire, 
the  third  of  the  regiment  which  he  formed,  and  which  con- 
sisted of  twelve  thousand  soldiers,  was  composed  of  French 
emigrants.^     Exaggerated  as  this  fact,  attested  by  the  his- 

*  Erman  and  Reelam,  vol.  i.  pp.  145,  146. 

-j-  Erman  and  Keclam,  vol.  iii.  pp.  39,  40. 

X  Charles  Ancillon  relates  literally  the  privilege  or  passport 
which  the  Elector  Frederic  11.  obtained  from  the  Grand  Dukes  of 
Muscovy,  in  favor  of  the  refugees.  See  his  "  History  of  the  Estab- 
lishment of  the  French  Refugees  in  Brandenburgh,"  pp.  382-388. 
Berlin,  1690. 

§  Voltaire,  "Life  of  Peter  the  Great,"  chap.  vi.  It  is  after  a  manu- 
script of  Lefort  that  Voltaire  affirms,  that  a  third  of  that  regiment 
was  composed  of  refugees. 


FRENCH    TROOPS    IN    RUSSIA.  ,  269 

torian  of  Peter  the  Great,  may  appear  to  us,  it  proves,  never- 
theless, that  a  very  great  number  of  the  fugitives  settled  in 
Kussia ;  and  that  they  were  not  without  influence  upon  the 
creation  of  that  disciplined  and  obedient  army,  which  per- 
mitted the  Czar  to  accomplish  his  projects  of  reform. 

The  new  capital  of  the  empire,  constructed  by  Peter  the 
Great,  saw  a  French  community  form  itself  within  its  walls, 
which  long  entertained  strict  relations  with  Geneva.  In 
1720,  the  pastors  and  elders  addressed  themselves  to  the 
council  of  that  city,  to  pray  them  to  authorize  a  collection 
for  the  construction  of  a  temple.  "  The  zeal  and  charity," 
they  wrote,  "  which  your  Excellencies  have  shown  on  all  oc- 
casions in  relieving  the  members  of  the  prostrate  churches, 
sustaining  the  tottering,  and  in  founding  new  ones  in  places 
where  the  Gospel  had  not  yet  been  announced,  leads  us  to 
hope  that  this  rising  church,  of  which  we  have  the  honor  to 
be  the  pastors  and  elders,  will  equally  receive  from  your 
liberal  goodness  the  aid  which  it  needs  in  its  rude  and  diffi- 
cult commencement ;  and  in  order  to  give  your  Excellencies 
a  just  idea  of  our  situation  and  wants,  we  have  the  honor  to 
tell  you,  that  our  assembly  is  composed  of  English,  Dutch, 
French  refugees,  Swiss,  and  Genevese,  of  whom  there  are  a 
number  who  have  a  rank,  and  who  have  held  honorable  employ- 
ments in  this  court."*  The  temple,  in  fact,  was  built;  and 
Geneva  habitually  designated  the  ministers  who  came  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  the  refugees  settled  in  St.  Petersburgh. 
In  a  new  letter,  also,  which  was  sent  to  the  council,  in  1725, 
and  which  bears  the  signatures  of  Dupre,  Coulon,  Lefort, 
and  Pelloutier,  that  French  colony  established  on  the  banks 
of  the  Neva,  expressed  the  wish  to  be  regarded  as  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  Genevese  Republic.f 

A  certain  number  of  refugees  penetrated  deeper  into  the 

*  This  letter,  dated  from  St.  Petersburg!!,  April  25th,  1720,  can  be 
found  in  the  archives  of  Geneva,  No.  4324. 
f  Ai'chives  of  Geneva,  No.  4511. 


270  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

interior  of  Russia,  and  created  a  small  colony,  at  once  agri- 
cultural and  mercantile,  on  the  banks  of  the  Volga.  Their 
descendants  continue  to  form,  according  to  the  testimony  of 
a  modern  traveller,  a  distinct  community,  the  members  of 
which  come  every  year  from  the  village  which  they  inhabit 
near  the  great  river,  to  the  fair  of  Makarieff,  in  order  to 
traffic  with  the  Hindoos.  According  to  that  writer,  they  have 
preserved,  in  the  depths  of  the  Russian  Empire,  the  com- 
plete costume  of  Louis  XIV.,  without  even  excepting  the 
coat  with  skirts,  and  the  voluminous  wig,  and  they  still  ex- 
press themselves  in  the  classic  language  of  the  contemporaries 
of  Corneille  and  Racine.* 

*  "  Trave]s  through  various  parts  of  Europe,"  by  the  Count  La- 
garde,  p.  34Y.  London,  1825.  The  author  of  this  work  lived  some 
time  in  Moscow,  in  1812. 


CONCLUSION. 

General  appreciation  of  the  influence  of  the  Eefugees  abroaci— Consequences  of 
the  Edict  of  Eevocation  on  France — Weal^ening  of  the  Kingdom — Duration  of 
the  reformed  party — Progress  of  the  skeptical  party — Condillac  and  Mabby — 
Eetributive  measures— Edict  of  1787— Laws  of  August  21  and  23,  17S9— Law 
of  December  15,  1790. 

Of  the  great  religious  emigration  of  France,  there  remains 
no  more,  to-day,  than  a  small  number  of  churches  scattered 
far  and  wide,  which  still  speak  the  language  of  their  founders. 
The  greater  part  of  the  exiled  families  have  long  since  dis- 
appeared. Those  who  still  exist,  ended  by  amalgamating 
themselves  in  their  turn  with  the  foreign  races  which  sur- 
rounded them,  the  incessant  actjon  of  whom  insensibly  altered 
their  national  idiom,  and  changed  even  their  names,  as  if  to 
efface  their  last  regrets  with  that  last  sign  of  their  origin. 
Doubtless,  before  the  close  of  the  present  century,  they  will 
not  preserve  a  single  remembrance  of  that  country,  which 
was  so  much  bewailed  by  their  ancestors.  While  seeing 
their  scattered  communities  thus  dissolving,  one  cannot  help 
deploring  that  a  chief  did  not  at  first  present  himself,  of 
a  sufficiently  illustrious  family,  and  endowed  with  authority 
great  enough  to  rally  all  the  exiles  under  the  same  standard. 
Realizing  the  idea  of  Coligny,  he  might  have  led  them  to 
America,  and  there  founded  a  vast  colony.  He  would  have 
found  ready  to  his  hand  all  the  elements  of  a  society,  nume- 
rous, energetic,  and  full  of  hope  for  the  future  ;  generals,  sol- 
diers, sailors,  preachers,  scholars,  manufacturers,  mechanics, 
merchants,  laborers,  and  even  the  capital  necessary  to  facili- 


272  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

tate  their  first  establishment.  Would  more  have  been  ne- 
cessary to  cause  a  Protestant  France  to  flourish  in  the  New 
World,  and  to  lay  there  the  foundations  of  a  powerful  em- 
pire 1 

Providence,  however,  decided  otherwise.  The  fugitives, 
dispersed  throughout  the  whole  world,  were  fated,  uncon- 
sciously, to  become  the  agents  of  its  mysterious  will.  They 
were  destined,  above  all,  in  x\merica,  to  temper  the  fanati- 
cism of  the  Puritans,  and  to  fecundate  the  germs,  and  favor 
the  triumph,  of  that  spirit  of  independence  regulated  by  the 
law,  of  which  the  United  States  to-day  offers  us  the  magnifi- 
cent results ;  and,  in  Europe,  to  develope  in  Prussia,  and 
increase  in  Holland  and  England,  the  elements  of  power  and 
prosperity,  which  those  three  countries  contained,  and  the 
present  grandeur  of  which  is  in  some  respects  their  work. 
Have  they  not  concurred,  under  the  most  decisive  circumstan- 
ces, in  defending  them  by  arms,  and  in  aiding  them  to  repulse 
foreign  invasion  ?  Have  they  not  contributed,  in  a  certain 
degree,  to  maintain  them  in  that  political  line  of  conduct 
which  has  placed  them  so  long  since  beyond  the  reach  of 
despotism,  preserved  them  from  the  dangers  of  anarchy,  and, 
by  preventing  them  from  being  troubled  by  the  revolutions, 
which  succeed  one  another  at  intervals,  insured  them  the  in- 
appreciable benefit  of  institutions  at  once  stable  and  liberal  ? 
Have  they  not  enriched  them  by  improving  their  manufac- 
tures, by  endowing  them  with  new  branches  of  industry,  by 
stimulating  their  commercial  activity,  and  by  introducing 
into  them  the  superior  modes  of  French  agriculture  ?  Have 
they  not,  by  propagating  the  language  and  literature  of 
France  among  them,  elevated  the  standard  of  intellectual 
culture,  and,  consequently,  that  of  public  morality  ?  Have 
they  not,  by  their  own  writings,  disseminated  the  taste  for 
letters,  science,  and  art  ?  Have  they  not,  in  a  word,  set  the 
example  of  urbanity  in  the  social  relations,  politeness  in 
language,   severity  in  morals,  and  the  most  inexhaustible 


THE  TREATY  OF  RYSWICK.  273 

cbaritj,  in  their  intercourse  with  the  suffering  classes  ? 
What  foreign  countries  gained,  France  lost.  That  kingdom, 
which  Henrj  IV.,  Richelieu,  and  Mazarin,  had  left  to  Louis 
XIV.,  covered  with  glory,  powerful  in  arms,  influential  with- 
out, tranquil  and  satisfied  within,  he  transmitted  to  his  suc- 
cessor, humiliated,  enfeebled,  discontented,  about  to  suffer 
the  reaction  of  the  regency  and  the  whole  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  thus  placed  upon  the  declivity  which  fatally 
led  to  the  revolution  of  1789.  Protestantism  had  opposed — 
by  the  union  of  England  and  Holland  under  one  chief, 
who  led  united  Europe  against  isolated  France — an  insur- 
mountable barrier  to  the  formidable  encroachments  of  a 
prince,  who  was  ruled,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  reign,  by 
narrow  and  exclusive  religious  views,  and  political  principles 
dynastic  rather  than  national.  The  signal  for  coalitions, 
which  have  been  so  often  since  renewed,  was  given  for  the 
first  time  in  1689,  and,  for  the  first  time,  also,  France  was 
vanquished  ;  for  the  Treaty  of  Ryswick  was  in  truth  a  defeat. 
The  King  not  only  recognized  William  III.,  but  his  intend- 
ants  ofiicially  proved  the  diminution  of  the  population,  and 
the  impoverishment  of  the  kingdom,  the  inevitable  conse- 
quence of  the  emigration,  and  the  decay  of  agriculture, 
manufactures,  and  commerce  which  followed  it.  At  the 
commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  military  de- 
fence of  the  country  found  itself  compromised.  From  the 
first  years  of  the  struggle,  which  followed  the  acceptance  of 
the  testament  of  Charles  II.,  it  became  necessary  to  recall 
Marshal  Villars  from  Germany,  to  oppose  him  to  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Cevennes,  and  that  skilful  general  had  no 
sooner  left  the  army,  than  the  allies  gained  the  victory  of 
Hochstedt,  which  was  the  first  of  our  disasters  in  the  war 
of  the  Spanish  succession.  During  the  reign  of  Louis  XV., 
whenever  the  powers  which  had  coalesced  menaced  our  fron- 
tiers, the  government  was  compelled  to  assure  itself  of  the 
fidelity  of  the  Protestants  in  the  frontier  provinces,  by  giv- 

VOL.  II — 12* 


274  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

ing  them  promises,  which  were  always  renewed,  and  from 
which  nothing  resulted.  But  was  the  religious  object  at- 
tained, which  was  pursued  at  the  price  of  so  many  sacrifices  ? 
At  the  epoch  of  the  revocation,  amongst  a  population  of 
about  twenty  millions  of  souls,  could  be  counted  one  million 
of  Protestants.  x\t  the  present  time,  from  fifteen  to  eigh- 
teen hundred  thousand  Protestants  live  disseminated  in  the 
midst  of  thirty-five  million  Roman  Catholics.  The  propor- 
tion between  the  partisans  of  the  two  religions  has  remained 
the  same.  The  cruel  laws  of  Louis  XIV.,  in  force  during  a 
hundred  years,  and  still  more  aggravated  by  the  ordinance 
of  1724,  have  remained  without  any  effect  upon  those  re- 
ligious convictions  which  they  ought  to  have  annihilated. 
The  hopes  of  the  promoters  of  the  edict  of  revocation  have, 
therefore,  been  deceived. 

One  of  the  most  deplorable  results  of  the  fault  of  the 
great  King,  was  the  awakening  of  fanaticism  in  the  South. 
The  religious  passions,  which  had  been  almost  entirely 
assuaged  since  the  Peace  of  Alais,  were  animated  through- 
out all  France,  and  chiefly  in  Languedoc.  Funeral  piles 
were  lighted  for  the  Camisards,  and,  after  the  example  of 
Innocent  III.,  Pope  Clement  XI.  did  not  recoil  from  taking 
a  terrible  measure ;  he  caused  a  crusade  to  be  preached 
against  the  heretics  of  the  Cevennes,  who,  in  blind  igno- 
rance, and  with  passionate  zeal,  he  said,  were  descended 
from  the  execrable  race  of  the  ancient  Albigenses.  In  a 
bull,  promulgated  at  Ptome,  on  the  1st  of  May,  1703, 
which  was  sent  to  all  the  bishops  of  Languedoc,  who  pub- 
lished it,  with  an  order  addressed  to  the  curates  of  their 
dioceses,  he  promised  the  general  remission  and  absolution 
of  their  sins,  to  all  who  would  enlist  under  the  holy  banner 
of  the  church,  and  would  contribute  to  the  extirpation  of 
the  rebels.  These  excitements,  which  call  to  mind  an  in- 
famous epoch  in  the  annals  of  the  South,  produced  no  imme- 
diate effect.     Almost  all  the  able-bodied  population  of  the 


REACTION  OF  EXCESSES.  275 

province  was  enrolled,  either  in  the  royal  armies,  or  in  the 
bands  of  the  insurgents ;  the  measure  of  calamity  was  filled, 
and  it  depended  on  no  one  to  add  to  it.  But  long  after  the 
pacification  of  that  fratricidal  struggle,  the  religious  hatreds 
were  hereditarily  transmitted  in  these  families,  and  the 
massacres,  of  which  Nimes  has  often  been  the  theatre  in  the 
contemporaneous  period,  prove  that  they  are  not  to  this 
day  extinct. 

It  is  a  well-known  law  in  history,  that  every  excess  in 
one  direction,  sooner  or  later  provokes  a  reaction  in  an 
opposite  one.  The  extreme  men  of  the  Catholic  party 
had  recourse  to  the  temporal  arm  to  vanquish  their  ene- 
mies. They  had  struck  at  free  judgment,  in  the  persons 
of  the  Calvinists.  They  had  triumphed  at  the  apparent  re- 
turn of  thousands  of  men,  whom  they  called  new  converts. 
Dragged  down  that  fatal  descent,  they  had  destroyed  Port 
Royal,  and  condemned  to  silence  perhaps  the  only  men,  whose 
elevated  principles  might  have  one  day  reconciled  the  two 
worships  and  re-established  religious  unity.  It  was  not  the 
Romish  Church  which  profited  by  that  double  victory,  but 
infidelity.  As  Bayle  had  predicted,  the  skeptical  and  free- 
^'"^thinking  party  received  all  the  benefit  from  it.  The  eight- 
eenth century  saw  a  generation  spring  up,  which  rejected 
Christianity  through  hatred  of  intolerance,  and  recognized  no 
other  authority  than  reason.  The  religionists,  whom  the 
dragoons  had  dragged  to  the  altars,  thus  avenged  them- 
selves, perhaps,  for  their  forced  submission.  Strange  cir^ 
cumstance  !  the  two  brothers,  Condillac  and  Mabby,  who 
contributed  so  powerfully  to  shake  a  despotic  church  and 
monarchy,  were  the  grandsons  of  a  noble  of  Dauphiny,  who 
had  been  converted  by  the  soldiers  of  Saint-Ruth.  Renew- 
ing the  philosophical  and  socialistic  theories,  which  the 
seventeenth  century  had  thrown  into  the  shade,  and  placing, 
in  the  first  place,  intelligence  of  matter,  and  in  the  second, 
the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  they  sapped  at  once  religion 


/ 


276  FPwENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

and  royalty.  These  princij^les,  which  were  rendered  popular 
by  Diderot  and  Rousseau,  triumphed,  on  a  day  which  was 
marked  by  Divine  wrath.  The  throne  was  overturned,  the 
altar  broken,  and  all  the  old  society  disappeared  in  a  fright- 
ful tempest.  Who  can  say,  whether  the  revolution,  of  ]  789, 
might  not  have  followed  another  course,  and  remained  puri- 
fied from  most  of  the  crimes  and  excesses  which  sullied  it,  if 
France  had  possessed  the  numerous  descendants  of  that 
race,  somewhat  austere,  it  is  true,  but  religious,  moral,  intelli- 
gent, full  of  energy  and  loyalty,  which  one  of  her  kings  had 
so  imprudently  driven  from  her  bosom  ?  Is  it  not  infinitely 
l^robable,  that  those  men,  devoted  to  the  civil  law,  as  they  were 
to  the  law  of  the  Gospel,  would  have  resolutely  seconded  the 
middle  classes  against  the  abettors  of  anarchy,  and  formed 
with  them  an  invincible  rampart,  against  which  would  have 
been  broken  the  passions  of  a  mob. led  by  hatred,  blinded 
by  ignorance,  eager  for  a  chimerical  equality,  and  intoxicated 
by  a  liberty  so  soon  to  be  sacrificed  to  a  fleeting  glory  ? 
Perhaps,  thanks  to  their  concurrence,  our  country  would 
have  found,  at  that  epoch,  the  definitive  form  of  its  government 
and  political  institutions  as  far  removed  from  an  extravagant 
democracy  as  from  an  unbridled  despotism. 

While  the  kingdom  of  Louis  XV.  presented  the  sad 
spectacle  of  an  absolute  power  borne  down  by  the  weight 
of  its  own  faults  and  of  an  established  church,  whose  hold 
over  the  minds  of  men  diminished  from  day  to  day,  but 
whose  false  veil  concealed  from  many  eyes  the  superstitious 
devotion  of  some,  and  the  doubt  and  indifi'erence  of  others — 
the  true  spirit  of  Christianity,  which  is  never  imprisoned  in 
any  of  the  human  forms  of  that  divine  religion,  animated 
some  chosen  men,  who  prepared  a  better  future  for  French 
society.  It  manifested  itself,  chiefly,  by  a  marked  tendency 
to  repair  the  faults,  which  were  committed  in  proclaiming 
toleration  and  fraternity.  In  the  year  1754,  Turgot  placed 
in  the  mouth  of  the  Prince  these  flue  words  :  "  Although  you 


RELIGIOUS    TOLERANCE.  277 

are  in  error,  I  will  treat  you  no  less  as  my  children.  Submit 
to  the  laws,  and  continue  to  be  useful  to  the  State,  and  you 
will  have  from  me  the  same  protection  with  my  other  subjects.'' 
The  Baron  de  Breteuil,  a  minister  of  Louis  XVI., caused  the 
"  Historical  Elucidation  of  the  Causes  of  the  Revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes,"  and  presented,  in  his  own  name,  a 
memorial  to  the  King  on  the  necessity  of  restoring  to  the 
Protestants  their  civil  rights.  Greneral  La  Fayette  pleaded 
their  cause,  and  the  noble  and  venerable  Lamoignon  de 
Malesherbes,  who  was  descended  from  the  ferocious  Lamoig- 
non de  Baville,  composed  two  works  in  their  favor.  "  It  is 
necessary,"  said  he,  "  that  I  should  render  them  some  good 
offices,  since  my  ancestor  injured  them  so  deeply.  The 
Edict  of  toleration  was  finally  signed,  in  1827.  "  After  the 
example  of  our  predecessors,"  said  the  King,  in  the  preamble 
to  this  merciful  ordinance,  "  we  shall  always  favor,  with  all 
our  power,  the  means  of  instruction  and  persuasion,  which 
may  tend  to  bind  our  subjects  in  the  common  profession  of 
the  ancient  faith  of  our  kingdom ;  and  we  shall  proscribe, 
with  the  utmost  severity,  all  those  violent  means  which  are 
as  contrary  to  the  principles  of  reason  and  humanity  as  to 
the  true  spirit  of  Christianity.  But  while  we  wait  until  Di- 
vine Providence  shall  bless  our  efforts,  and  bring  about  this 
happy  revolution,  our  justice  and  the  interest  of  our  king- 
dom permit*  us  no  longer  to  exclude  from  civil  rights  those 
of  our  subjects  and  of  strangers,  domiciled  in  our  empire, 
who  do  not  profess  the  Roman  Catholic  religion.  A  sufficient- 
ly long  experience  has  demonstrated  that  rigorous  pro- 
ceedings are  insufficient  to  convert  them.  We  must,  there- 
fore, no  longer  permit  our  laws  to  punish  them  for  the  mis- 
fortune of  their  birth,  by  depriving  them  of  rights,  which 
nature  must  incessantly  demand  in  their  behalf." 

The  Edict,  of  1787,  did  not,  assuredly,  answer  all  the 
wants  or  all  the  demands  of  the  Protestants.  One  remnant 
of  servitude  still  pressed  upon  them.     They  could  attain  to 


278  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

no  judicial  office.  The  profession  of  instruction  was  closed 
against  them.  They  were  no  longer  recognized  as  a  distinct 
community,  and  all  right  of  collective  petition  was  denied 
to  them.  In  a  word,  they  obtained  only  the  right  of  resi- 
dence in  France  without  interference  as  to  the  exercise  of 
their  religion,  the  permission  of  legal  marriage  before  the 
officers  of  justice,  authority  to  prove  their  births  before  the 
local  judges,  and  a  regulation  in  regard  to  their  sepulture. 
But  these  concessions,  trifling  as  they  are  in  appearance,  ne- 
cessarily carried  with  them  much  practical  advantage.  Prot- 
estant France  was  not  deceived  in  this.  It  joyfully  and 
gratefully  accepted  the  Edict  of  Louis  XVI.  It  re-estab- 
lished its  religious  assemblies.  The  "  reformed  "  of  Nimes 
crowded  to  the  royal  judges,  in  order  to  register  their  mar- 
riages and  legitimatize  their  children.  They  firmly  believed 
in  their  early  and  perfect  emancipation.  Wonderful  to  re- 
late, this  population,  excluded  during  a  whole  century  from 
all  public  employments,  checked  in  all  professions,  hunted 
through  forests  and  over  mountains,  without  schools,  without 
family  rights  legally  recognized,  without  security  of  heredi- 
tary rights,  had  lost  nothing  of  its  ancient  energy.  It  de- 
served by  its  intelligence,  its  morality,  its  civil  virtues,  the 
great  retribution,  which  the  revolution  had  in  store  for  it. 
On  the  21st  of  August,  1789,  the  constituent  Assembly 
overthrew  the  barriers  which,  up  to  that  time,  had  denied 
the  Protestants  admission  to  all  State  offices.  It  solemnly 
■declared  that — 

/  "  All  citizens  being  equal  in  the  eyes  of  the  law,  are 
equally  admissible  to  all  public  dignities,  places  and  employ- 
ment according  to  their  abilities,  and  with  no  other  distinc- 
tions than  those  of  their  virtues  and  their  talents."  Two  days 
afterward,  in  the  session  of  August  23,  it  proclaimed  the 
grand  principle  of  the  absolute  freedom  of  all  religions,  by 
passing  a  decree  to  the  efi'ect  that — "  No  person  ought  to  be 
troubled  on  account  of  his  opinions,  even  though  they  be 


RIGHTS    OF    CITIZENSHIP.  S79 

religious,  provided  that  their  manifestation  do  not  disturb 
the  public  order  as  instituted  by  law." 

The  tardy  justice  of  the  sovereign  people  avenged  the  de- 
scendants of  the  refugees  themselves,  of  the  persecutions 
endured  by  their  ancestors.  According  to  the  laws,  which 
remained  in  force  unto  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV., 
and  which  were  but  slightly  modified  by  the  Edict  of  1787, 
the  fugitive  religionists  lost  their  quality  of  Frenchmen. 
They  incurred  civil  death,  their  goods  were  confiscated,  and 
they  were  rendered  actually  foreigners.  This  legislation, 
which  was  not  conformable  to  the  spirit  of  the  century,  was 
abrogated  by  the  law  of  December  15.  1790,  the  second  ar- 
ticle of  which  runs  thus — "  All  persons  born  abroad,  being 
descended,  it  matters  not  in  what  degree,  from  a  Frenchman 
or  Frenchwoman,  expatriated  for  religion's  sake,  are  declared 
natural  Frenchmen,  and  shall  enjoy  all  rights,  attributable  to 
that  quality,  on  returning  to  France,  establishing  therein 
their  domicile,  and  taking  the  oath  of  citizenship." 

In  the  view  of  the  National  Assembly,  the  refugees  had 
never  abdicated  their  nationality,  because  they  had  been  com- 
pelled to  expatriate  themselves,  and  were  not  liable  to  be 
legitimately  deprived  of  their  rights  by  edicts  contrary  alike 
to  humanity  and  justice.  The  public  reporter  thus  addres- 
sed the  assembled  deputies  of  France — ''  When  tyrannical 
laws  disallowed  the  first  rights  of  men,  the  liberty  of 
opinion,  and  the  right  of  emigration — when  an  absolute 
Prince  caused  his  frontiers  to  be  guarded  by  troops,  as 
though  they  were  the  gates  of  a  prison,  or  compelled  men 
who  held  to  a  creed  different  from  his  own  to  toil  in  the 
galleys,  as  though  they  were  felons,  then,  certes,  the  law  of 
nature  resumes  its  empire  over  the  law  of  policy.  Citizens, 
scattered  over  a  foreign  land,  cease  not  for  one  instant,  in  the 
eyes  of  the  law,  to  belong  to  the  country  which  they  have 
quitted.  This  maxim  of  equity  did  honor  to  the  Roman 
law,  and  ought    to    immortalize   our  own."     In  giving  the 


280  FE,ENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

sanction  of  positive  law  to  the  law  of  nature,  the  Assembly 
forbid  the  discussion  not  only  of  the  domicile,  but  even  of 
the  deeds  of  the  refugees,  during  their  long  exile.  It  ex- 
tended even  to  descendants  in  the  female  line,  this  great 
privilege,  which  ought  to  seal  the  reconciliation  between 
France,  when  free,  and  the  victims  of  a  despotism  fortunate- 
ly overthrown.  Finding  nothing  wherewith  to  reproach 
men,  it  chose  not  to  bring  against  women,  as  a  reproach,  the 
marriages  which  they  might  have  contracted  abroad  ;  and,  in 
this  particular  instance,  it  decided  that  they  had  preserved 
their  nationality,  and,  through  them,  their  descendants  also. 
It  thus  entirely  assimilated  all  the  scions  of  the  fugitive 
families  to  citizens  born  on  French  soil,  of  ancestors  who 
had  not  quitted  France,  since  the  year  1685,  on  the  single 
condition  that  they  should  perform  in  future  all  the  obliga- 
tions to  which  Frenchmen  are  liable. 

Regenerated  France  had  a  last  duty,  which  to  fulfil  to- 
ward its  outlawed  children.  Iniquitous  decrees  had  declared 
the  property  of  the  refugees  confiscated.  A  portion  of  that 
property  had  been  sold  or  assigned,  another  portion  had  been 
put  under  sequestration,  liable  to  the  orders  of  the  intendants, 
and  managed  for  the  benefit  of  the  state.  Those,  who  maintain 
the  theory  of  absolute  royalty  sustained,  in  principle,  that 
society,  when  it  deprived  the  general  community  of  all  the 
properties  and  wealth  existing  throughout  its  territories, 
distributed  them  only  among  the  members  of  that  communi- 
ty, on  condition  of  their  remaining  citizens.  It  preserved  to 
itself  the  right  of  eminent  domain,  so  that  a  fugitive  should 
not  carry  away  with  him,  or  retain  in  his  absence,  his  indi- 
vidual fortune ;  just  as  the  vassal  loses  his  fief,  when,  by  his 
forfeiture,  he  is  no  longer  capable  of  performing  the  duties 
by  right  of  which  he  holds.  The  constituent  assembly  did 
not  accept  the  force  of  these  maxims,  worthy  of  the  Egyp- 
tian Pharaohs,  as  absolute.  It  ruled  that  the  right  of  pos- 
session could  not  be  regarded  as   a  mere  concession  on  the 


THE    ACT    OF    REPARATION.  281 

part  of  society,  and  it  re-established  the  foundations,  which 
had  been  disturbed  by  a  power  which  knew  no  restraint,  at  the 
same  moment  in  which  it  performed  an  act  of  high  justice  to- 
wards the  descendants  of  the  expatriated  religionists.  The 
law  of  the  15th  of  December,  1790,  it  is  true,  rejected  the 
deeds  irrecoverably  done,  by  declaring  in  its  twelfth  article, 
that  properties  hond  fide  sold,  could  not  be  reclaimed  by  the 
heirs  of  the  original  proprietors ;  but  it  ordered,  that  all 
those  yet  remaining  under  sequestration  should  be  restored 
to  such  families  as  could  establish  their  claims.  The  grants 
and  concessions  of  the  properties  of  religionists,  gratuitously 
made  to  others  than  relatives  of  the  refugees,  were  annulled, 
without  permitting  the  holders  by  concession  or  gift  to  avail 
themselves  of  any  advantage  of  prescription.  But  it  allowed 
the  heirs  of  those  to  oppose  prescription  to  the  heirs  at  law, 
when  they  were  able  to  prove  uninterrupted  possession  for 
a  period  of  thirty  years.  This  was  to  reduce  ancient  vested 
rights,  and  newly  acquired  rights,  to  a  just  scale,  and  to 
grant  to  the  refugees  all  the  reparation  possible  without  a 
complete  disorganization  of  society. 

Within  the  last  sixty  years,  the  gates  of  France  have 
been  re-opened  to  the  descendants  of  the  Protestant  exiles. 
Many  have  returned  to  their  old  country,  to  which  they 
were  attracted  by  a  secret  and  irresistible  attraction,  which 
they  had  painfully  crushed  down  into  the  depths  of  their 
hearts  during  the  long  term  of  their  persecution.  The  Odi- 
ers,  the  La  Boucheres,  the  Pradiers,  the  Constants,  the  Del- 
prats,  the  Bitaubes,  the  Pourtales,  have  restored  to  the  land 
of  their  ancestors  distinguished  members  of  their  respective 
families.  The  majority  of  the  descendants  of  the  refugees 
still  dwell  abroad,  but  they  recall  to  mind  with  justifiable 
exultation,  the  act  of  reparation,  which  recognizes  in  them 
the  imperishable  right  to  the  title  of  French  citizens. 

As  for  ourselves,  in  writing  the  history  of  these  martyrs 
to  their  faith,  we  believe  that  we  have  filled  a  gap  in  our 


282  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

Dational  history,  while  at  the  same  time  performing  a  pious 
duty.  The  annals  of  France  should  not  be  closed  against 
the  mention  of  the  fortunes,  often  glorious,  always  honorable, 
of  the  scattered  members  of  "  the  Refuge."  We  have  studied 
the  vicissitudes  of  their  various  fortunes,  collected  the  me- 
morials of  their  sufferings  and  their  triumphs,  shown  the 
benefits  arising  from  their  influence  to  countries  the  most 
diverse,  and  if  it  be  not  granted  to  us  to  raise  an  imperish- 
able monument  to  their  honor,  at  least  we  shall  have  contri- 
buted to  rescue  from  oblivion  some  great  and  noble  recollec- 
tions, which  deserve  to  live  in  the  memories  of  men,  and  to 
which  France  herself  may  justly  turn  her  thoughts  with 
exultation. 


AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 


PREFATORY    REMARKS. 

But  little  comparatively  has  been  known  of  the  Hngnenots  who 
first  emigrated  to  America ;  and  scattered  portions  of  their  history 
only  have  been  gathered  and  preserved  by  American  authors.  The 
writer  of  the  following  Appendix  has  endeavored  to  bring  some  more 
light  into  this  portion  of  our  national  history.  Indeed,  until  lately, 
there  was  not  much  authentic  information  of  the  French  Huguenots 
themselves.  Their  history,  during  the  sixteenth,  seventeenth,  and 
eighteenth  centuries,  embraces  a  series  of  most  affecting  incidents, 
which  have  produced  important  political  results  in  the  world.  French 
historians  have  kept  an  almost  general  silence  upon  these  subjects 
and  periods ;  and,  before  the  revolution  of  1'789,  a  succinct  history  of 
the  Huguenots  would  have  been  considered  as  libellous  in  France. 

I  believe  that  Guizot,  himself  the  descendant  of  a  Huguenot,  in 
his  lectures,  has  taken  but  little  notice  of  the  terrible  religious  strug- 
gles, and  their  effects,  which  preceded  the  accession  of  Henry  lY. 
At  the  suggestion  of  this  eminent  historian.  Professor  Weiss  appears 
to  have  written  his  admirable  "  History  of  the  French  Protestant 
Refugees,"  which  will  supply  a  marked  deficiency  in  the  general 
annals  of  France  and  Europe. 

The  Huguenots  of  America  is  a  volume  which  still  remains  fully 
and  correctly  to  be  written.  There  are,  doubtless,  in  our  various 
record  offices,  and  among  Huguenot  families,  some  treasures  on  the 
subject,  which  have  not  yet  reached  the  public  eye.  Our  govern- 
ment has  no  State  Paper  Office,  similar  to  some  in  Europe,  for  the 
illustration  of  national  history,  and  we  wish  it  had.  To  prepare  the 
Appendisi  the  writer  has  consulted  the  best  sources  of  information 


284  AMERICAN   HUGUENOTS. 

within  his  reach ;  and,  for  much  written  about  the  jSTew-York  Hugue- 
nots, he  is  indebted  to  documentary  papers  at  Albany.  He  has  more 
willingly  contributed  his  mite  to  the  general  stock,  as  Professor 
Weiss  himself  solicits  such  contribution,  and  made,  at  a  time  too, 
when  increased  attention  i'^  directed  to  historical  investigations. 
New-York,  February,  1854. 


Earliest  attempts  of  the  Iluguenots  to  colonize  America,  1655— Philip  II.  and  Charles 
IX.— Pope  Pius  v.— Battle  of  Jarnac— Medals  to  commemorate  the  defeat  of  the 
Huguenots— Dragoonades—Kevocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  16S5— Louis  XIY.— 
General  emigration— Emigration  to  America  before  the  Revocation,  1625— Hu- 
guenots of  Ulster — Settlement  at  Kingston — Its  massacre  by  the  Indians — Le 
Fevers,  their  early  history— New  Paltz— Ancient  Church— Venerable  Bible, 
1643— Walloons — Associations  of  French  and  Dutch— Huguenots  in  New  Eng- 
land and  Virginia— Curious  relict— Fontaine  family  in  Ireland  and  America- 
Church  in  Charleston,  early  and  present,  »fec. 

The  earliest  attempts  of  the  French  Huguenots  to  settle  in 
America,  as  stated  by  Mr.  Weiss,  were  made,  in  1555,  at 
Brazil,  and,  a  few  years  afterwards,  in  Florida.  Both  set- 
tlements failed,  and  their  inhabitants  were  massacred  by 
the  Portuguese  and  Spaniards. 

That  proud  and  bigoted  Romanist,  Philip  II.,  was  on 
the  throne  of  Spain,  and  could  not  brook  the  heresy  of  Cal- 
vinism to  be  planted  in  the  vicinity  of  his  American  pro- 
vinces. Charles  IX.,  an  apt  son  of  the  crafty,  intriguing, 
and  wicked  Catharine  de  Medicis,  had  now  attained  his 
majority,  and  assumed  the  French  sceptre.  With  his 
mother,  he  entertained  the  most  bitter  enmity  toward  the 
Huguenots.  She  was  the  actual  mistress  and  ruler  of  the 
kingdom,  an  Italian,  not  more  in  lineage,  than  in  her  sub- 
tlety and  cunning. 

These  three  celebrated  and  royal  personages  were  among 
the  most  devoted  and  firm  friends  of  Pope  Pius  Y.,  who 
had  then  been  elevated  to  the  Pontificate,  and  France  be- 
came the  theatre  of  his  most  sanguinary  persecutions.  No 
pontiff,  unless,  perhaps,  we  except  Innocent  III.,  his  prede- 


BATTLE    OF    JARNAC.  285 

cesser,  ever  caused  the  Protestant  world  so  mucli  sorrow  as 
Pope  Pius  V.  The  Inquisition  was  literally  liis  nursery 
and  school,  and  his  exertions  were  unbounded  and  unwearied 
against  Christianity,  which  he  esteemed  heresy. 

In  1569  the  Huguenots  lost  the  hard  fought  battle  of 
Jarnac,  in  which  their  forces,  six  or  seven  thousand  men, 
contended  with  a  Romish  army  four  times  as  strong.  During 
the  fight  the  Prince  of  Conde  was  killed,  a  distinguished, 
brave,  and  skilful  leader  of  the  reformers.  His  body  was 
borne  by  an  ass  through  the  Catholic  army,  as  an  object  of 
derision  to  many  who  had  before  trembled  at  the  very 
mention  of  his  name. 

Pius  V.  exulted  greatly  upon  this  defeat,  and  has  left 
seven  letters,  written  on  the  occasion,  which  remain  terri- 
ble monuments  of  Jiis  unholy  zeal,  to  Catharine,  the  queen 
mother.  He  says,  that  ''  the  anger  of  God  can  only  be 
appeased  by  just  vengeance  for  the  insults  offered  to  him," 
and  recommends  that  his  enemies  should  be  "massacred,"* 
and  '•  totally  exterminated."!  No  note  or  comment  is  here 
necessary.  The  Holy  Father  went  still  further  on  this  joyful 
occasion.  To  commemorate  it,  a  medal  was  struck,  repre- 
senting him  uncovered,  and  kneeling,  returning  thanks  to 
Heaven  for  the  triumph. 

Hap23y  for  the  Christian  world,  this  master  pontiff  of 
Rome,  who  would  have  extirpated  the  Protestants  from  every 
land,  died  in  1572.  He  excited  the  diabolical  spirit  which 
shortly  after  his  death  caused  the  St.  Bartholomews, — a 
butcliery  never  to  be  forgotten  by  human  memory,  nor  ever 
remembered,  except  with  one  common  sentiment  of  horror. 
That  massacre  may  be  pronounced  the  foulest  and  bloodiest 
of  ancient  or  modern  times,  and  we  dwell  a  moment  upon 
its  history,  as  some  Romish  writers  assert  that  their  church 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  butchery. 

Charles  the  King,  by  a  public  edict,  proclaimed  himself 

*  Ad  interneeionem.  f  Delitis  omnibus. 


286  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

r  the  author  of  it.     High  mass  was  performed  bj  the  people; 
|Vsalvos   of  artillery   thundered  from   the   ramparts    of    St. 
Angelo  ;  a   Te  Deum  was  sung  to  celebrate  the  atrocious 
event,  and  a  medal  struck  for  the  same  purpose. 
i\        If  every  Protestant  account  of  this  terrible  transaction 
I  )  jmust  encounter  suspicion,  we  ourselves  will  be  satisfied  with 
'    '    'the  testimony  of  this  medal  alone  of  Gregory  XIII.,  who 
was  Pope  at  that  time. 

The  medal  has,  as  usual,  on  the  obverse,  a  head  of  the 
Pope  Gregorius  XIII.  Pont.  Max.  An.  I.  The  reverse 
exhibits  a  destroying  angel,  with  a  cross  in  one  hand  and 
a  sword  in  the  other,  pursuing  and  slaying  a  flying  prostrate 
band  of  heretics.  The  legend  is,  Ugonottovum  Strages, 
1572.  Strange  work  for  an  angel !  This  medal  is  evidence  that 
scatters  to  the  winds  of  heaven  all  the  excuses  and  attempted 
apoloTgies  for  those  who  perpetrated  the  St.  Bartholomew 
massacre.  It  is  a  valuable  historical  medal — rare^  and  tell- 
ing its  own  bloody  tale — carrying  its  own  comment.  We  have 
placed  a  copy  of  it  upon  the  first  leaves  of  these  volumes. 
No  Pope  ever  exerted  himself  more  to  destroy  the  Huguenots 
and  our  common  Christianity,  than  Pius  Y.  Here  is  his 
picture,  and  here  the  evidence  of  the  unholy  joy  which  filled 
Rome,  when  so  many  thousands  were  butchered  on  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's Eve.  The  religious  wars  which  succeeded  the 
butchery  in  France,  continued  with  but  little  intermission  for 
the  following  century,  when  the  celebrated  Edict  of  Nantes 
was  formally  revoked,  Oct.  18,  1685.  At  this  period  Pro- 
,  fessor  Weiss  commences  his  valuable  account  of  the  "  Pro- 
testant Refugees  from  France." 

History  does  not  afford  an  example  of  a  more  malignant  or 
^  desolating  war  than  that  which  raged  in  France  during  the 
I  seventeenth  century.  Louis  XIV.,  the  easy  dupe  of  Jesuits, 
\  confessors,  and  the  designing  Madame  de  Maintenon,  and 
I  urged  also  by  the  Cardinal  Mazarine,  determined  to  convert 
I  his  Huguenot  subjects  to  the  Roman  faith.     The  scenes  are 


DRAGOONADES.  287 

admirably  described  by  Professor  Weiss  ;  still,  for  our 
purposes,  we  must  glance  at  them.  The  King  professed  to 
convert,  not  to  expel  the  reformers,  and  forbade  emigration 
under  penalty  of  the  galleys,  and  death  to  any  aiding  their 
escape.  Their  ministers  were  now  tormented  on  the  wheel, 
their  schools  shut  up,  and  their  charitable  funds  confiscated. 
No  less  than  seven  hundred  churches  were  destroyed,  even 
before  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  "  Dragoon- 
ing," as  it  was  styled,  was  the  last  cruelty  adopted.  Instead 
of  Popish  missionaries,  soldiers  were  quartered  in  the 
Calvinistic  districts  and  families,  to  force  them  to  conversion. 
Each  dragoon  became  a  judge  and  executioner,  while  the 
only  escape  from  this  new  invention  of  religious  t^a-anny,  was 
the  well-known  remedy,  "  Come  to  mass,  and  you  shall; 
be  exempted  from  dragoons."  ! 

In  some  instances,  the  appearance  of  the  dragoons  would 
force  an  entire  village  to  profess  the  Romish  faith.  Plunder 
always  accompanied  the  system.  The  notorious  Bassviile, 
Intendant  of  Pictou,  found  on  his  reaching  that  province  in 
1682,  thirty-four  thousand  conversions  and  abjurations  had 
taken  place.  Within  three  years  he  had  the  gratification  to 
announce  twelve  thousand  more,  resulting  from  what  an 
apologist  styles  "  measures  replete  with  mildness."  Many  ab- 
^  jured  for  gaining  time  to  escape;  and  certainly  the  sincerity  of 
such  conversions  may  well  be  questioned.  The  persecutions 
became  general.  "  His  Majesty  wishes  the  most  severe 
rigors  to  be  inflicted  on  those  who  will  not  follow  his 
religion  :  they  who  desire  the  stupid  glory  of  being  the  last 
"^convert,  must  be  pressed  to  extremities," — were  the  words 
of  the  royal  mandate.  Spies  were  even  engaged  to  discover 
whether  any  French  subjects  were  present  at  divine  service 
in  the  chapels  of  the  Danish,  Swedish,  and  Dutch  ambassa- 
dors. The  Duke  de  Navilles  commanded  in  Languedoc,  and 
in  his  missionary  report,  after  relating  the  forced  conversions 
of  Names,  Uzes,  and  other  towns,  he  adds,  "  I  am  preparing 


288  AMERICAN   HUGUENOTS. 

to  go  through  the  Cevennes,  and  hope  that  by  the  end  of  this 
month  not  a  Huguenot  will  remain." 

Wearied  with  increasing  opposition,  the  Huguenots  began 
to  emigrate,  and  many  of  them  left  France  for  foreign  and 
peaceful  climes,  before  the  revocation,  and  some  reached  Uls- 
ter county.  New  York,  where  they  thus  early  settled.  The 
Edict  of  Nantes  was  finally  and  formally  revoked,  Oct.  18th, 
1685,  at  Fontainebleau,  without  the  least  pretext  or  necessity, 
and  this  act  gave  the  finishing  stroke  to  the  persecutions. 

Why  the  act  should  be  termed  the  revocation,  I  know  not ; 
for  all  its  provisions  had  long  been  repealed  by  several  ordi- 
nances, by  which  the  exercise  of  the  reformed  religion  was  for- 
bidden, under  severe  penalties — ^the  clergy  ordered  to  expatri- 
ate themselves,  and  if  caught  at  public  worship  to  be  executed. 
Those  who  rejected  the  sacraments  were  thrown  away  after 
death,  to  be  devoured  by  wolves  and  dogs.     One  historian 
asserts,  that  ten  thousand  died  at  the  stake,  or  on  the  gibbet 
and  the  wheel.     In  the  pulpits  the  pious  zeal  of  Louis  XIV.- 
was  eulogized,  and  the  press  of  France  abounded  with  pub-\ 
lications,  boldly  denying  the  naked  truth  to  justify  what  had ' 
passed.     Notwithstanding  the  praises  of  the  clergy,  and  the 
flattery  of  courtiers  to  the  King,  the  revocation  of  this  edict  j 
,!   will  ever  be  considered  a  cruel  and  ignominious  act  of  tyran- 
/   nical  authority  and  treachery.     Hear  the  judgment  of  the 
Duke  de  Saint  Simon,  whose  opinion  is  most  valuable,  from 
his  knowledge  of  the  causes  that  might  justify  the  measure 
at  that  period.     He  was  a  priest  himself,  and  writes  :  ''  The 
revocation  of  the   Edict  of   Nantes  was  without  the  least 
pretext  or  necessity ;  and  the  various  proscriptions  which  fol- 
lowed it,  were  the  fruits  of  this  dreadful  plot,  which  depop- 
ulated one  fourth  of  the  kingdom ;  ruined  trade   in  all  its 
branches  ;  placed  it  so  long  under  the  avowed  pillage  of  the 
dragoons,  and  authorized  torments  and  executions,  in  which 
thousands  of  innocent  persons  of  both  sexes  perished  ;  "— r 
and  such,  he  adds,  "  was  the  general  abomination  of  flattery 


WORSHIP    OF    THE    DESEP>,T.  289 

and  cruelty,"  These  are  historical  facts  which  Mr.  Weiss 
now  proves  beyond  the  possibility  of  a  successful  contradic- 
tion. Never  was  oj^pression  more  cruel  than  that  endured 
by  the  unfortunate  Huguenots  at  this  moment — tormented 
and  hunted  down,  if  they  remained  in  France,  punished  as 
malefactors  whenever  they  attempted  to  escape.  Still,  the 
efforts  of  tyranny  were  powerless,  and  the  true  faith  was 
preserved  in  the  ashes  of  the  reformed  churches,  and  the 
bones  of  their  martyred  ministers.  The  worship  in  the  de- 
sert became  general,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  faithful 
men  still  assembled  to  sing  their  psalms,  and  arose  up,  as 
with  one  heart,  for  the  irresistible  rights  of  conscience  and 
freedom  of  mind. 

Severe  enactments  were  also  made  to  deter  any  preachers 
who  might  desire  to  return  to  France — death  was  the  penalty, 
and  five  thousand  five  hundred  livres  the  reward  for  the  in- 
formation that  might  arrest  them.  Many,  notwithstanding, 
defied  the  haughty  monarch's  sword,  and  came  back  clandes- 
tinely to  their  former  flocks.  Travelling  in  the  garb  of  pil- 
grims, soldiers,  or  dealers  in  images,  they  often  escaped  the 
vigilance  of  the  government,  and  joyfully  preached  to  their 
brethren  assembled  in  caverns  and  secret  places.  Frequent- 
ly the  Roman  sacraments  were  forced  upon  the  dying,  and 
spurned  by  them,  which  caused  an  edict  that  the  bodies  of 
such  should  be  drawn  upon  hurdles,  after  death,  and  thus 
degraded,  presented  to  the  gaze  and  derision  of  a  barbarous 
populace. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  France  about  the  period 
when  the  Huguenots  emigrated,  in  the  largest  numbers,  to 
America.  Every  day  confirmed  the  universal  apprehension 
that  a  crisis  was  at  hand  in  their  afi'airs  ;  the  only  permanent 
safety  was  now  in  flight;  and,  in  spite  of  armies  by  land, 
and  ships  of  war  along  the  coast,  for  their  retention,  fifty 
thousand  families,  it  is  estimated,  escaped  to  other  countries. 
France  lost  more  than  five  hundred  thousand  of  her  most  in- 

VOL.  II. — 13 


290  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

dustrious,  useful,  and  religious  subjects ;  and  the  name  of 
Louis  XIV.  became  execrated  over  a  great  part  of  Europe. 
Mr.  Weiss  calculates  the  loss  at  one  million  of  people.  Our 
author  has  admirably  traced  the  dispersion  of  the  Huguenots, 
over  the  nations  of  Europe,  with  a  few  chapters  on  their 
emigration  to  America.  We  now  come  to  some  additional 
events  in  their  American  history. 

Many  French  Protestants  left  France  for  foreign  and 
peaceful  climes,  even  before  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  and  among  the  number  were  the  Huguenots  of  Uls- 
ter county,  New- York.  It  is  probable  that  they  emigrated 
at  different  periods.  As  early  as  1625,  some  of  their  fami- 
lies arrived  at  the  spot  where  New-York  now  stands,  then  a 
Dutch  colony,  and  here  found  a  safe  home.  The  first  birth 
in  New  Amsterdam  was  a  daughter  of  Greorge  Eapaeligo 
I  (Rapelje),  in  1625.  This  was  a  branch  of  the  Huguenot 
family  which  fied  to  Holland,  after  the  St.  Bartholomew's 
massacre,  and  thence  sailed  to  America.  Most  of  the  refu- 
gees who  settled  in  Ulster,  at  first  sought  refuge  in  Germany, 
and  thence  sailed  for  America. 

Ascending  the  Hudson,  the  emigrants  landed  at  Wilt- 
wyck,  r^ow  Kingston,  and  were  welcomed  by  the  Dutch  set- 
tlers, who  had  prepared  the  way  in  the  then  wilderness  for 
the  enjoyment  of  civil  and  religious  privileges.  Kingston 
was  one  of  the  oldest  settlements  in  the  States,  and  here  a 
Protestant  Reformed  Dutch  Church  had  been  formed  since 
1658.  The  venerable  stone  building  used  for  divine  worship 
nearly  two  centuries,  was  taken  down  in  1822-3,  when  the 
present  brick  edifice  was  erected.  Hernames  Blom  was  its 
first  minister,  and  preached  there  in  1660.  (Peter  Vas  suc- 
ceeded him  in  1721,  and  then  Mr.  Mansius.)  He  was  com- 
missioned by  the  classical  meeting  in  Amsterdam  to  preach 
there,  "  both  on  water  and  on  the  land,  and  in  all  the  neigh- 
borhood, but  principally  in  Esopusy 

The  region  selected  by  the  Huguerots  for  their  future 


MASSACRE    OF    KINGSTON.  291 

abode,  was  like  their  own  delightful  France,  marked  with 
great  natural  beauties.  Of  course,  it  wanted  the  culture 
and  improvements  of  the  former,  but  the  picturesque  and  the 
sublime  in  nature  appeared  on  every  side — running  streams, 
verdant  lawns,  hills  and  woods.  Towards  the  east  and  west, 
the  charming  prospect  was  bounded  and  perfect  by  the  waters 
of  the  noble  and  ever  rolling  Hudson  ;  and  the  Shawangunk 
Mountains,  the  loftiest  range  of  the  Fishkill,  looked  like 
pillars  upon  which  the  arch  of  heaven  there  rested. 

No  river  can  please  the  eye  more.  The  Rosendale  be- 
gins its  course  far  in  the  interior,  towards  Pennsylvania, 
and,  uniting  with  the  Walkill,  then  rapidly  passes  on,  fall 
after  fall,  until  it  mingles  with  the  Hudson.  So  with  Eso- 
pus  Creek.  Its  source  lies  amidst  the  lofty  mountains  of 
Delaware,  whence,  like  the  foaming  war  steed,  it  rushes  furi- 
ously onwards,  until  suddenly  reaching  the  lowlands  of  Mar- 
bletown,  it  turns  towards  the  north,  and  slowly  moves  up  the 
North  River.  This  romantic  stream  at  last  reaches  Sau- 
gerties,  and,  as  if  just  fresh  from  the  mountain  side,  dashes 
from  one  rapid  bound  to  another,  down  into  the  bosom  of 
the  Hudson. 

The  Dutch  and  the  French  Huguenots  followed  these 
noble  streams  towards  the  South,  and  made  their  earliest 
settlements ;  and  their  remains  repose  on  those  retired, 
quiet  banks.  Their  descendants  now  enjoy  the  rich  and 
glorious  patrimony,  secured  by  the  industry,  frugality,  and 
piety  of  tueir  worthy  ancestors.  Hallowed  be  their  exalted 
memories  !     Who  more  worthy  of  imitation  ! 

In  the  year  1663,  the  Indians  attacked  Kingston,  and 
massacred  a  part  of  its  inhabitants.  Dominie  Blom  left  a  de- 
scription of  the  tragical  event.*  They  slew  24,  and  took  45 
prisoners.  The  Dominie  escaped,  with  most  of  the  inhabit- 
ants, and  thus  describes  the  bloody  scene :  "  There  lay  the 
burnt  and  slaughtered  bodies,  together  with  those  wounded 

*  Vanderkemp's  Albany,  Rec.  viii. 


292  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

by  bullets  and  axes.  The  last  agonies,  and  the  moans  and 
lamentations  of  many,  were  dreadful  to  hear.  .  .  .  The  burnt 
bodies  were  most  frightful  to  behold.  A  woman  lay  burnt 
with  her  child  at  her  side.  Other  women  lay  burnt  also  in 
their  houses.  The  houses  were  converted  into  heaps  of 
stones,  so  that  I  might  say  with  Micah :  '  We  are  made  de- 
solate ;'  and  with  Jeremiah,  '  A  piteous  wail  may  go  forth  in 
his  distress.'  With  Paul,  I  say,  '  Brothers,  pray  for  us.'  I 
have  also  every  evening,  during  a  whole  month,  offered 
up  prayers  with  the  congregation,  on  the  four  points  of  our 
fort,  under  the  blue  sky.  But  the  Lord  strengthened  me 
in  all  this.  Many  heathen  have  been  slain,  and  full  22  of 
our  people  have  been  delivered  out  of  their  hands  by  our 
arms.  The  Lord  our  Grod  will  again  bless  our  arms,  and 
grant  that  the  foxes  who  have  endeavored  to  lay  waste  the 
vineyard  of  the  Lord  shall  be  destroyed." 

Among  the  prisoners  carried  into  captivity  by  the  In- 
dians on  this  attack,  were  Catharine  Le  Fever,  the  wife  of 
Louis  Dubois,  with  three  of  their  children.  These  were 
Huguenot  families;  and,  after  a  considerable  absence,  a 
friendly  Indian  gave  information  where  they  could  be  found. 
He  directed  the  pursuers  to  follow  the  Ron^out  next  the 
Walkill,  and  then  a  third  stream,  where,  if  expeditious,  they 
would  meet  with  them. 

A  small  but  bold,  desperate  band,  with  their  dogs,  knap- 
sacks, and  rifles,  undertook  the  perilous  journey.  They 
found  the  described  spot  toward  evening,  and  Dubois,  in  ad- 
vance of  the  others,  discovered  an  Indian  party  within  a  few 
feet  of  him,  and  partly  concealed  behind  a  tree.  The  savage 
was  in  the  act  of  drawing  his  bow,  but  from  fear  or  surprise, 
missed  its  string,  when  Dubois  springing  forward  killed  him 
with  his  sword,  and  without  any  alarm.  The  party  then 
resolved  to  delay  any  other  attack,  until  the  dusk  of  the 
evening.  When  this  hour  arrived,  the  savages  were  pre- 
paring for  the  slaughter  of  one  of    their  captives,    which 


DUSINE    OR    PATENTEES.  293 

was  none  other  than  the  wife  of  Dubois  himself.  She  had 
been  selected  to  be  burned,  and  was  already  placed  upon 
the  funeral  pile,  and  was  singing  a  psalm  of  praise  at  the 
trying,  solemn  moment.  Delighted  with  the  sacred  strains, 
the  savages,  by  signs,  urged  her  to  continue  them.  This 
she  did,  fortunately,  until  the  approach  of  her  deliverers. 
"  White  man's  dogs,  white  man's  dogs  !  "  was  the  first  cry 
which  alarmed  the  cruel  foe.  The  faithful  animals  had  en- 
tered their  encampment,  when  the  Indians  fled,  and  their 
prisoners  with  them.  Dubois  discovering  his  wife  also  fly- 
ing, called  her  by  name,  and  she  was  soon  gladly  and  safely 
restored  to  her  anxious  friends,  with  the  other  captives. 

At  the  moment  of  their  delivery,  the  prisoners  were  pre- 
paring themselves  for  a  bloody  sacrifice  of  Indian  cruelty, 
and  just  then  were  singing  the  beautiful  psalm  of  the  "  Baby- 
lonish Captives."  Heaven  heard  the  strains,  and  their  de- 
liverance came  at  the  very  moment  to  save  them.  During 
this  fearful  expedition,  the  Huguenots  of  Ulster  first  dis- 
covered the  lowlands  of  Paltz. 

The  county  of  Ulster  is  considerably  broken  by  those 
lofty,  magnificent  monarchs  of  the  Hudson,  the  Catskill 
Mountains.  Still  there  are  numerous  little  streams  and 
creeks  which  enrich  this  beautiful  region,  and  form  also  very 
extensive  jiats^  as  they  are  called,  or  tracts  of  rich  alluvial 
soil.  This  was  the  section  which  the  Huguenots  selected 
for  a  home,  distant  some  85  miles  from  New-York,  lying 
along  the  west  shore  of  the  Hudson,  and  running  from  six 
to  ten  miles  in  the  interior.  It  was  called  New  Paltz,  and 
a  patent  obtained  for  the  lands  from  Gov.  Andros.  The 
emigrants  religiously  selected  twelve  of  their  brethren  as  the 
patentees,  who  are  known  by  the  appellation  of  the  "  Du- 
sine^''  or  "  the  twelve  patentees^''  and  these  were  regarded 
as  Patriarchs  in  this  little  Christian  community.  A  list  of 
the  original  purchasers  has  been  preserved,  and  are  as  fol- 
lows :  Louis  Dubois ;  Christian  Dian,  since  written  Deyo ; 


294  AMERICAN   HUGUENOTS. 

Abraham  Hasbroucq,  now  spelt  Hasbrouck;  Andros  Le 
Fever,  often  Lefevre,  Le  Febre,  and  Le  Febvre;  John  Brook, 
and  said  to  have  been  changed  into  Hasbrouck ;  Peter  Dian, 
or  Deyo;  Louis  Bevier,  Anthony  Crispell,  Abraham  Du 
Bois,  Hugo  Freir,  Isaac  Dubois,  Simon  Le  Fever. 

A  copy  of  the  agreement  with  the  Indians  still  exists, 
and  the  antiquarian  may  find  it  among  the  records  at  Albany. 
This  curious  document  contains  the  signatures  of  both  par- 
ties, the  names  of  the  patentees  written  in  the  antique  French 
character,  with  the  hieroglyphic  marks  of  the  Indians.  The 
purchasers  paid  the  following  articles  for  the  land :  40  ket- 
tles, 10  large  and  20  small;  40  axes,  40  adzes,  40  shirts, 
400  strings  of  white  beads,  300  strings  of  black  beads,  50 
pair  of  stockings,  100  bars  of  lead,  1  keg  of  powder,  100 
knives,  4  quarter  casks  of  wine,  40  jars,  60  splitting  or 
cleaving-knives,  60  blankets,  lOO  needles,  100  awls,  and  1 
clean  pipe.  This  was  the  insignificant  value  given  for  lands 
a  century  and  three  quarters  ago,  which  are  now  worth  mil- 
lions of  dollars. 

This  treaty  was  mutually  executed,  according  to  the 
records  from  which  we  quote,  on  the  26th  of  May,  1677. 
The  patentees  forthwith  proceeded  to  take  possession  of 
their  newly  acquired  property ;  their  first  conveyances  be- 
ing three  wagons,  which  would  be  objects  of  great  curiosity 
in  our  day ;  the  wheels  were  very  low,  shaped  like  the  old- 
fashioned  spinning  wheels,  with  short  spokes,  wide  rim,  and 
without  any  iron.  They  were  three  days  on  their  journey 
from  Kingston  to  New  Paltz,  a  distance  of  only  sixteen 
miles.  The  place  where  they  first  encamped  is  still  known  by 
the  name  of  ''  Tri  Cor,^''  or  three  cars,  in  honor  of  those 
first  conveyances.  Soon,  however,  they  selected  a  more  ele- 
vated site  upon  the  banks  of  the  beautiful  "Walkill,  where 
the  village  now  stands.  Log  houses  were  erected,  not  far 
apart,  for  mutual  defence,  and  afterward  stone  edifices, 
with  port-holes,  some  of  which  remain  to  this  day. 


BEVEIRS I^UBOIS.  295 

It  is  said  tliat  their  lands  were  so  arranged  in  small  lots, 
and  within  sight  of  each  other,  as  to  prevent  surjDrise  from 
the  Indians,  whilst  cultivating  them.  They  never  left  their 
dwellings  without  carrying  their  guns  along  with  them,  for 
the  savages,  above  all  things,  delighted  in  obtaining  the  rifle 
of  a  Frenchman. 

Louis  Beveir,  one  of  the  honored  patentees,  was  the  an- 
cestor of  that  numerous  and  respectable  family  in  Ulster. 
When  he  was  about  to  leave  France,  his  own  father  became 
so  exasperated,  that  he  refused  to  extend  to  him  the  most 
common  civilities.  Nor  would  he  condescend  to  return  the 
kindly  salutations  of  his  brother  in  the  public  streets,  which 
were  affectionately  offered  by  the  pious  emigrant,  and  for  the 
last  time. 

Another  of  the  patentees,  Deyo,  went  to  France,  to 
claim  his  confiscated  property,  but  failed  of  success.  Kings- 
ton was  at  that  period  the  only  trading  village  for  the 
French  Protestants,  and  sixteen  miles  distant  from  their  set- 
tlement, although  Paltz  in  a  straight  line  was  not  more  than 
eight  miles  from  the  Hudson  Kiver.  M.  Deyo  undertook 
alone  to  explore  this  route,  which  then  lay  through  the 
woods,  but  never  returned.  About  thirty  years  afterward, 
a  truss  and  buckle  which  he  owned,  and  wore,  were  found  at 
the  side  of  a  large  hollow  tree.  It  was  thought  that  he  died 
suddenly,  or  was  devoured  by  the  wild  beasts.  His  life  seems 
to  have  been  full  of  toils  and  danger,  as  he  endured  severe 
sufferings  before  he  reached  Holland  from  France.  For 
days  he  concealed  himself  in  hiding-places  without  food  from 
his  persecutors,  and  escaped  on  board  of  a  fishing-boat,  dur- 
ing a  terrific  storm,  and  was  the  only  passenger. 

The  descendants  of  the  Dubois  are  numerous  in  our 
day';  but  there  is  a  tradition,  that  the  name  of  this  family 
was  at  one  time  in  danger  of  becoming  extinct,  among  the 
Huguenots  of  Ulster.  For  a  long  while  after  the  settlement 
of  Paltz,  it  was  the  practice  for  parents  to  visit  Kingston  to 


296  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

have  their  children  baptized.  A  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dubois  were 
returning  from  such  a  religious  jonrnej  during  the  winter, 
and,  crossing  the  Rondout  on  the  ice,  it  gave  way,  plunging 
the  sleigh,  horses  and  party,  in  the  rapid  stream.  With 
great  presence  of  mind,  the  mother  threw  her  infant,  an  only 
son,  upon  a  cake  of  floating  ice,  which,  like  the  ark  of  Moses, 
floated  him  safely  down  the  stream,  until  he  was  providen 
tially  rescued.  For  some  time  this  child  was  the  only  male 
Dubois  among  the  Paltz  Huguenots,  and  had  he  perished  on 
that  perilous  occasion,  the  family  name  would  have  also  per- 
ished with  him.  Still  there  were  seven  females  of  the  name 
called  the  "  seve7i  zuisters^''  or  seven  sisters,  all  of  whom 
married  in  the  most  respectable  Huguenot  families.  To  no 
stock  do  more  descendants  trace  their  origin  in  Ulster 
county  than  that  of  Dubois.  Some  antiquarians  deny  this 
tradition  of  the  Dubois  seven  sisters,  and  contend  that  they 
were  Lefevers. 

The  whole  tale,  whether  true  or  not,  has  strong  resem- 
blance to  an  incident  well  known  to  have  taken  place  at  a 
later  date.  In  the  year  1744,  Johannis  Decker,  of  Shawan- 
gunk,  in  Ulster  county,  was  baptized,  when  an  infant,  in  the 
church  at  Kingston.  On  their  way,  his  father,  together 
with  his  team,  and  a  colored  man  coming  to  his  assistance, 
were  drowned,  in  attempting  to  cross  Rosendale  Creek  on 
the  ice.  The  mother  was  rescued,  however,  and  the  child 
saved  by  being  thrown  upon  a  cake  of  ice. 

There  were  two  Le  Fevers  among  the  patentees,  and  no 
name  is  more  common  or  respectable  in  Ulster  county.  Their 
progenitors,  it  is  imagined,  were  among  those  early  Protes- 
tants of  France,  who  distinguished  themselves  for  intellec- 
tual powers,  prominence  in  the  reformed  church,  and  endur- 
ing patience  under  the  severest  trials  and  death.  Le  Fever, 
a  doctor  of  theology,  adorned  the  French  metropolis  when 
Paris  caught  the  first  beams  of  salvation  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury.    He  preached  Christ  within  its  walls,  and  this  early 


MARGARET    OF    VALOIS.  297 

teacher  declared,  after  his  conversion  from  the  errors  of  Ro« 
manisin  :  ''  Our  religion  has  only  one  foundation^  one  object^ 
one  head^  Jesus  Christy  blessed  for  ever.  Let  us  then  not  take 
the  name  of  Paul ^  of  Apollos^  or  of  Peter.  The  cross  of 
Christ  alone  opeyis  Heaven^  and  shuts  the  gates  of  Hell.''''  ^ 
We  cannot  but  dwell  a  moment  upon  the  memory  of  this 
distinguished  and  pious  reformer.  He  was  truly  a  burning 
light  amidst  the  darkness  and  superstition  of  a  wicked  age. 
In  1524,  Le  Fever  published  a  translation  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, and  the  next  year  a  version  of  the  Psalms.  Many 
received  the  Holy  Scriptures  from  his  hands,  and  read  them 
in  their  families,  and  thus  the  Word  of  God  here,  as  in  the 
countries  beyond  the  Rhine,  produced  the  happiest  effects. 
Margaret,  the  celebrated  Princess  of  Valois,  had  embraced 
experimental  Christianity,  and  the  Reformation  had  thus  a 
witness  in  the  King's  court.  She  was  sister  to  Francis  the 
First,  the  reigning  monarch,  and  lived  a  pure.,  religious,  and 
blameless  life  amidst  the  dissolute  household  of  her  royal 
brother.  By  the  hands  of  this  excellent  lady,  the  Bishop  of 
Meuse  sent  to  the  King  a  translation  of  St.  Paul's  Epistles, 
richly  illuminated,  adding  in  this  quaint  and  beautiful  lan- 
guage, "  They  will  make  a  truly  royal  dish,  of  fatness  that 
never  corrupts,  and  having  a  power  to  restore  from  all  man- 
ner of  sickness.  The  more  we  taste  them  the  more  we  hun- 
ger after  them,  with  desires  that  are  ever  fed,  and  never 
cloyed."  Soon  after  this  the  fires  of  persecution  began  to 
rage  against  this  new  sect.  The  scaffold,  the  rack,  and  the 
stake  were  erected,  and  began  their  bloody  work.  The 
Bishop  was  the  first  elevated  person,  who  was  accused  and 
convicted,  when  monks,  priests  and  doctors  entreated  him  to 
recant,  in  the  name  of  religion,  courts,  friends — nay,  even  of 
the  Reformation  itself — consent.  These  sophisms  unfortu- 
nately prevailed,  and  rather  than  suffer  a  glorious  martyr- 
dom, he  darkened  his  former  fidelity  by  a  recantation  ;  and 
thus  he  fell  from  the  truth. 
VOL.  II. — 13* 


298  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

Le  Fever  was  next  arrested,  but  escaped  to  Strasburgh, 
where  he  found  a  safe  asylum,  with  other  refugees  from  his 
own  country,  among  the  German  reformers. 

Another  Le  Fever,  a  distinguished  gentleman,  was  im- 
prisoned fifteen  years,  in  a  noisome  and  solitary  dungeon, 
where   he    died.     "Nothing,"   he    says,    "can   exceed   the 
cruelty  of  the  treatment  I  receive.     The  weaker  I  become, 
the  more  they  endeavor  to  aggravate  the  miseries  of  the  pri- 
son.    For  several  weeks  no  one  has  been  allowed  to  enter 
my  dungeon.     The  place  is  very  dark  and   damp.     I  have 
never  seen  a  fire  here,  except  the  flame  of  a  candle.     You 
will  feel  for  me  in  this  misery ;  but  think  of  the   eternal 
if  weight  of  glory  that  will  follow.     Death  is  nothing.      Christ 
I    has  vanquished  the  foe  for  me."     Such  were  the  hopes,  re- 
I    signation,  and  triumph  of  this  Christian  hero. 

Abraham  Hasbroucq,  which  is  the  original  orthography 
of  the  name,  among  the  patentees,  was  a  native  of  Calais,  and 
the  first  emigrant  of  that  family  to  this  country  in  1 675.  With 
a  party  of  friends,  they  resided  for  a  while  upon  the  banks 
of  the  Rhine,  among  the  Palatinates,  and  were  kindly  re- 
ceived by  the  government.  To  commemorate  this  kindness, 
when  they  reached  our  shores,  their  settlement  was  called 
"  De  Paltz,  "  now  "New  Paltz,"  as  the  Palatinate  was  al- 
ways styled  by  the  German  and  Low  Dutch.  Hence,  also, 
the  beautiful  stream  flowing  through  New  Paltz  was  honored 
by  the  term  Walkill,  after  the  river  Wael,  a  branch  of  the 
Rhine  flowing  through  Holland. 

A  tradition  exists  among  the  Paltz  Huguenots,  that  some 
of  the  patentees  resided  two  or  three  years  in  Holland, 
among  their  Protestant  brethren,  and  with  whom  they  formed 
a  lasting  friendship.  Doubtless  they  passed  through  that 
country ;  but  the  continuance  of  their  stay  cannot  be  easily 
ascertained.  Dubois  is  supposed  to  have  reached  here  as 
-  early  as  1660.  The  first  birth  on  the  family  record  of  the 
Beviers  in  America,  is  dated  a.d.  1664. 


SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  PALTZ.  299 

The  twelve  patcDtees,  or  Duzine,  managed  the  affairs  of 
the  infant  settlement  as  long  as  they  lived ;  and  after  their 
decease  it  was  a  custom,  until  almost  our  days,  to  elect  a 
civil  officer  from  the  descendants  of  each,  at  the  annual  town 
meetings.  For  a  long  period,  they  kept  in  one  chest  all  the 
important  papers  of  their  patent  and  land  titles.  The  min- 
ister, or  the  oldest  man,  had  charge  of  its  key,  and  applica- 
tion was  made  to  this  depository  for  the  settlement  of  all 
difficulties  about  boundaries.  Hence  they  were  free  from  all 
legal  suits  about  their  lands  :  and  to  this  judicious  plan  may 
be  traced  the  well-known  harmony  of  their  numerous  de- 
scendants in  that  region,  the  fidelity  of  their  landmarks,  and 
the  absence  of  litigation. 

We  know  of  no  region  in  our  country  where  property  has 
remained  so  long  in  the  same  families  as  it  has  in  New  Paltz. 
There  has  been  a  constant  succession  of  intermarriages 
among  the  descendants  of  the  French  Protestants,  since  the 
place  was  first  settled,  and  very  many  continue  to  reside  upon 
the  old  homesteads  of  their  early  and  honored  forefathers. 

Devoted  as  the  Huguenots  ever  had  been  to  a  pure  faith, 
and  the  simple  worship  of  the  Almighty,  one  of  their  first 
objects  at  New  Paltz  was  the  erection  of  a  church.  It  was 
built  of  logs,  and  afterwards  gave  place  to  a  substantial  stone 
building,  finished  with  brick  brought  from  Holland,  and  the 
place  answered  the  double  purpose  of  a  church  and  fort.  Its 
form  was  square,  each  of  the  three  sides  having  a  large  win- 
dow, and  the  fourth  a  large  door,  inclosed  by  a  portico.  The 
roof  running  to  a  point,  in  its  centre  was  a  little  steeple, 
from  which  a  horn  was  sounded  for  religious  services. 
Within  the  last  fifty  years,  several  churches  of  this  form 
could  be  seen  in  Ulster  county.  Their  third  house  of  wor- 
ship was  an  excellent  stone  building,  which  served  the  Hu- 
guenots for  80  years,  when  it  was  demolished  in  1839,  and 
the  present  splendid  edifice  occupied  the  venerable  spot,  and 
was  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Almighty  God,  Dec.  20,  1839. 


300 


AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 


It  is  related  that  sometimes  a  minister  would  visit  New 
Paltz  during  the  summer.  There  was  one  clergyman,  eccen- 
tric in  dress  and  manners,  who  occasionally  made  such  a  jour- 
ney, and  for  the  purpose  of  meditation,  he  would  cross  the 
Walkill  in  a  canoe,  to  some  large  elms  growing  upon  a  bank 
opposite  to  the  church.  On  one  occasion  the  stream  was  low, 
and  whilst  pushing  the  canoe  with  a  pole,  it  broke,  when  the 
Dominie,  losing  his  balance,  pitched  overboard.  He  succeed- 
ed, however,  in  reaching  the  shore,  and  proceeded  to  the 
nearest  house,  for  the  purpose  of  drying  his  clothes.  This 
partly  accomplished,  he  entered  the  pulpit,  w^hen  he  informed 
his  congregation  that  he  had  intended  to  have  given  them  a 
sermon  on  baptism.  But  eyeing  his  garments,  he  said  cii'cum- 
stmices  lyrevented^  as  he  could  now  sympathize  with  Peter, 
and  take  the  text,  "  Lord,  save,  or  I  perish." 

To  serve  G-od,  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  con- 
science, had  ever  been  a  supreme  duty  with  the  Huguenots, 
and  paramount  to  every  thing  else.  For  this  they  endured 
the  severest  persecutions  in  France,  and  had  sacrificed 
houses,  lands,  kindred,  and  their  native  country.  They  had 
crossed  a  trackless  ocean,  and  penetrated  the  howling  wilder- 
ness inhabited  by  savage  tribes,  and  for  what  ? — To  serve 
their  Maker,  and  the  rights  of  conscience.  They  had  been 
the  salt  of  France,  and  brought  over  with  them  their  Gospel 
principles,  and  their  Bibles,  the  most  precious  things. 
Popery  and  infidelity  they  left  in  deluded,  bigoted  France. 
Some  of  these  precious  volumes  are  still  to  be  found  among 
the  descendants  of  American  Huguenot  families.  We  have 
often  seen  and  examined  one  of  the  most  venerable  copies. 
This  is  Diodati's  French  Folio  Bible ;  but  I  will  copy  its 
title : 

LA    SAINTE 

BIBLE, 

INTERPETEE  PAR  JEAN  DIODATI, 

MDCXLIir. 

IMPRIMEE  A  GENEVE. 


OLD    FRENCH    BIBLE,  301 

While  we  write,  the  sacred  volume  is  210  years  old,  in 
good  condition,  and  well  covered  with  white,  dressed  deer- 
skin, its  ties  of  the  same  material.  It  was  brought  to  Ame- 
rica by  Louis  Beveir,  a  French  Protestant,  and  has  been 
preserved  in  his  family  through  six  generations.  Well  may 
they  esteem  it  a  precious  family  relic.  It  was, carried  from 
France  to  Holland,  and  thence  brought  to  New  Paltz. 
Blessed  book  !  the  hands  of  holy  martyrs  may  have  once 
unfolded  thy  sacred  leaves,  and  their  eyes  perused  thy  holy 
cheering  truths  !  There  is  also  a  family  record,  written  in 
the  volume,  faintly  legible,  of  the  immediate  descendants  of 
Louis  Beveir  and  his  wife,  Maria  Lablau,  from  the  year 
1674  to  1684. 

For  some  time  after  the  Huguenots  had  settled  in  the  Paltz, 
they  used  the  French  language,  until  a  consultation  was  held 
to  determine  whether  this,  or  the  English,  or  Dutch  should 
be  adopted  in  their  families.  As  the  latter  was  generally 
spoken  in  the  neighboring  places — Kingston,  Poughkeepsie, 
and  Newburgh,  and  also  at  schools  and  churches,  it  was  de- 
cided to  speak  Dutch  to  their  children  and  domestics  only. 
Many,  for  a  while,  however,  continued  the  use  of  their  native 
tongue.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  many  descendants  of 
the  Huguenots  in  the  Paltz  continue  to  write  their  names  as 
their  French  ancestors  wrote  them  more  than  two  centuries 
ago.  Hasbroque,  Deyeau,  Le  Fevre,  Du  Bois,  Be  Vier,  are 
instances. 

Petronella  was  once  an  admired  name  among  the  Hugue- 
not ladies,  and  became  almost  extinct  in  Ulster.  The  last 
at  the  time,  was  said  to  have  been  Petronella  Hasbroque,  a 
lady  distinguished  for  remarkable  traits  of  character.  Judge 
Hasbrouck,  of  Kingston,  the  father  of  the  former  president 
of  Rutgers  College,  was  very  anxious  that  his  son  would 
give  this  name  to  one  of  his  daughters.  In  case  of  compli- 
ance, a  handsome  marriage  portion  was  also  promised ;  but 
the  parents  declined  the  offer,  whether  from  a  dislike  to  the 


302  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

name,  or  a  belief  that  the  property,  at  any  rate,  would  be 
forthcoming  some  day,  is  not  known.  A  grand-daughter, 
however,  of  a  second  generation,  named  her  first-born  Petro- 
nella,  and  thus  gratified  the  laudable  desire  of  her  near  kins- 
man, secured  a  handsome  marriage  portion  for  the  heir,  and 
preserved  the  much-admired  name  from  oblivion — three  im- 1 
portant  results  certainly. 

It  is  also  a  well-known  and  distinguishing  trait  of  the 
Huguenots  at  New  Paltz,  that  but  few  intermarriages  have 
taken  place,  except  among  their  own  families  (Walloon).  In 
this  respect  they  differed  from  all  other  French  Protestants 
who  emigrated  to  America,  and,  by  matrimonial  alliances, 
mingled  with  the  other  population.  In  Kingston,  Pough- 
keepsie,  and  these  neighborhoods,  there  is  an  unusual  num- 
ber of  Dutch  names — the  Van  Deusens,  Van  Benschotens, 
Van  Kleeks,  Van  G-asbeeks,  Van  de  Bogerts,  Van  Beurens, 
&c.,  &c.,  ad  infinitum.  But,  for  miles  around  the  populous 
and  wealthy  town  of  old  Paltz,  scarcely  a  family  can  be 
found  with  such  appellations.  We  should  remark,  that  not- 
withstanding the  French  Protestants  of  the  Paltz,  somewhat 
like  the  Jews,  kept  themselves  a  distinct  and  separate  peo- 
ple, still  the  custom  did  not  arise  from  any  dislike  to  the 
Dutch.  On  the  contrary,  they  were  particularly  attached 
to  that  people,  who  had  been  their  best  friends  in  Holland 
and  America. 

In  the  decided,  persevering,  bold,  and  pious  traits  of 
this  race,  can  be  plainly  traced  their  noble,  glorious,  Pro- 
testant origin.  The  more  fearful,  and  faint-hearted  remained 
in  France  ;  whilst  the  determined,  the  adventurous,  and  the 
brave,  deserted  all  for  religious  liberty,  and  came  to  this 
land,  where  they  continue  to  enjoy  all  the  blessings  of  a  quiet, 
peaceful,  and  happy  life.  The  blood  of  holy  martyrs  runs 
in  their  veins.  Well  may  all  Huguenots  look  back  withli 
pride  to  their  forefathers,  for  they  were  such  men  as  Calvin,  ( 
Benoit,  Beza,  Rapin,  Claude,  and   Saurin,  with  the  brave, 


GOV.    STUYVESANT.  303 

wise,  and  incorruptible  Sullj — names  worthy  of  enduring 
remembrance  in  our  world's  history. 

The  associations  of  the  French  with  the  Dutch  were  ever 
of  a  friendly,  generous  character,  both  in  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica, and  have  proved  genial  and  happy.  After  a  while,  the 
Huguenots  of  Ulster  county  adopted  not  only  the  language 
of  their  Dutch  friends,  but  their  habits  and  customs.  Both 
have  retained  these  striking  peculiarities  with  a  well-known 
and  peculiar  tenacity  ;  and  less  inUvVations  have  been  made 
upon  the  established  rules  of  former  generations.  When 
the  Protestant  churches  of  Rochelle  were  destroyed  in  1685, 
the  Calvinists  of  that  city  were  gladly  admitted  into  the 
colony  of  New- York.  They  came  in  such  numbers,  that 
the  public  documents  were  sometimes  printed,  not  only  in 
English  and  Dutch,  but  French  also.  Records  of  Albany 
state  that  crowds  of  orphans  were  shipped  for  the  New 
World,  and  a  free  passage  offered  to  mechanics. 

Gov.  Stuyvesant  was  among  the  earliest  to  encourage  the 
emigration  of  the  Huguenots,  whose  descendants  for  genera- 
tions have  been  among  our  most  respectable  and  intelligent 
citizens.  On  the  24th  of  Jan.,  1664,  N.  Van  Beck,  a 
merchant  in  New  Amsterdam,  received  letters  from  Rochelle, 
stating  the  wish  of  some  French  Protestants  to  settle 
in  New  Netherland,  as  their  religious  rights  had  been 
invaded,  and  churches  burned.  The  Governor  and  Council 
resolved  to  receive  them  kindly,  and  to  grant  them  land 
gratuitously. 

Many  came  over  after  the  revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes,  and  established  the  town  of  New  Eochelle,  which 
they  named  after  their  own  brave  native  city  in  France.  Well 
may  we  style  it  brave,  for  its  citizens  bore  their  trials  most 
manfully,  and  with  a  religious  perseverance  seldom  equalled. 
The  little  Christian  Republic  had  defied  the  Crown  of  France 
for  seventy  years,  before  it  perished.  Rochelle  was  the 
stronghold  of  the  Calvinists  or  reformers.     Its  citizens  were 


304  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

reduced  from  over  27,000  to  5,000  ;  but  was  forced  to  capi- 
tulate after  a  siege  of  nearly  fifteen  months,  having  manfully 
defended  themselves  amidst  warfare  and  starvation.  Every 
one  of  sufficient  age  was  a  soldier.  Richelieu,  that  ambitious 
Cardinal,  and  at  the  time  the  prime  minister  of  France,  jDpr- 
sonally  commanded  the  siege.  The  walls  were  prostrated — 
a  cross  erected  commemorating  the  surrender — nor  were  any 
Protestants  allowed  to  reside  in  this  "  City  of  Kefuge,'- 
without  the  royal  permission.  On  the  festival  of  All  Saints, 
the  proud  Cardinal  celebrated  mass  with  great  pomp,  to 
honor  the  event.  Well  might  its  exiles  remember  and  love 
their  gallant,  Christian  city. 

New  Rochelle  is  situated  near  the  shore  of  Long  Island 
Sound,  and  the  emigrants  purchased  of  John  Pell  6,000  acres 
of  land.  One  venerable  Huguenot,  it  is  related,  would  go 
daily  to  the  shore,  when,  directing  his  eyes  towards  the  direc- 
tion where  he  supposed  France  was  situated,  would  sing  one 
of  Marot's  hymns,  and  send  to  heaven  his  early  morning  de- 
votions. Others  joined  him  in  these  praises  of  their  God, 
and  remembrances  of  their  beloved  native  clime,  from  which 
they  had  been  banished  by  the  merciless  fires  of  persecution. 
The  Huguenots  first  occupied  a  small  wooden  church.  The 
second  was  built  of  stone;  and  so  anxious  were  all  to 
contribute  something  towards  its  completion,  that  even 
females  carried  mortar  in  their  aprons  to  complete  the  sacred 
undertaking.  Queen  Anne  gave  them  the  plate  for  this 
church.  The  Kev.  Daniel  Bondet  was  their  first  minister ; 
and  fortunately  for  our  purposes,  we  have  a  letter  written  at 
that  period,  1702,  by  this  earliest  Huguenot  minister  in 
Westchester  county.  It  is  a  curious,  authentic  and  interest- 
ing document,  translated  from  the  French : — 

To  His  Excellency  Milord  Cornbury,  Governor  &  Commander  in 
Chief. 
My  Lord, 

I  most  humbly  pray  your  Exeell :  to  be  pleased  to  take  cogni- 
zance of  the  petitionei-'s  condition. 


ANCIENT    LETTER.  305 

I  am  a  frencli  Refugee  Minister,  incorporated  into  the  body  of 
tlie  Ministry  of  the  Anglican  Church  ;  I  removed  about  fifteen  years 
ago  into  New  England  with  a  company  of  poor  refugees  to  whom 
Lands  were  granted  for  their  settlement,  and  to  provide  for  my  sub- 
sistance  I  was  allowed  one  hundred  and  five  pieces  per  annum  from 
the  funds  of  the  corporation  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  among 
the  Savages.  I  performed  that  duty  during  nine  years  with  a  suc- 
cess approved  and  attested  by  those  who  presided  over  the  affairs  of 
that  Province. 

The  murders  which  the  Indians  committed  in  those  Countries 
caused  the  dispersion  of  our  company  some  of  whom  fell  by  the 
hands  of  the  Barbarians.  I  remained,  after  that,  two  years  in  that 
province  expecting  a  favorable  season  for  the  re-establishment  of 
affairs,  but  after  waiting  two  years,  seeing  no  appearance,  and  being 
invited  to  remove  to  this  Province  of  New-York  by  Colonel  Heath- 
cote  who  always  evinces  an  affection  for  the  public  good  and  distin- 
guishes himself  by  a  special  application  for  the  advancement  of  reli- 
gion and  good  order,  by  the  Establishment  of  Churches  and  Schools, 
the  fittest  means  to  strengthen  and  encourage  the  people,  I  complied 
with  his  request  and  that  of  the  Company  of  New  Rochelle  in  this 
province,  where  I  passed  five  years  on  a  small  allowance  promised  me 
by  New  Rochelle  of  one  hundred  pieces  and  lodging,  with  that  of 
one  hundred  and  five  pieces  which  the  Corporation  continued  to  me 
imtil  the  arrival  of  milord  belamont  who,  after  indicating  his  willing- 
ness to  take  charge  of  me  and  my  Canton  ordered  me  Thirty  pieces 
in  the  Council  of  York,  and  did  me  the  favor  to  promise  me  that  at 
his  journey  to  Boston  he  would  procure  me  the  continuation  of  that 
stipend  that  I  had  in  times  past.  But  having  learned  at  Boston, 
through  M'  Nanfan,  his  Lieutenant,  that  I  annexed  my  signature  to 
an  ecclesiastical  certificate  which  the  Churches  and  Pastors  of  this 
Province  had  given  to  Sieur  Delius,  Minister  of  Albany,  who  had  not 
the  good  fortune  to  please  his  late  Lordship,  his  defunct  Excellency 
cut  off  his  thirty  pieces  which  he  had  ordered  me  in  his  Council  at 
York,  deprived  me  of  the  Boston  pension  of  25  pieces,  writing  to  Lon- 
don to  have  that  deduction  approved,  and  left  me,  during  three  years 
last  past  in  an  extreme  destitution  of  the  means  of  subsistence. 

I  believed,  my  Lord,  that  in  so  important  a  service  as  that  in 

which  I  am  employed  I  ought  not  to  discourage  myself,  and  that  the 

Providence  of  God  which  does  not  abandon  those  who  have  recourse 

to  his  aid  by  well-doing,  would  provide  in  its  time  for  my  relief. 

Your  Excellency's  equity ;  the  affection  you  have  evinced  to  us 


306  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

for  the  encouragement  of  those  who  employ  themselves  constantly 
&  faithfully  in  God's  service  induce  me  to  hope  that  I  shall  have  a 
share  in  the  dispensation  of  your  justice  to  relieve  me  from  my  suffer- 
ing so  that  I  may  be  aided  and  encouraged  to  Continue  my  service 
in  which  by  duty  and  gratitude  I  shall  continue  with  m}'  flock  to  pray 
God  for  the  jjreservation  of  your  person,  of  your  illustrious  family 
and  the  prosperity  of  your  government ;  remaining  Your  Excellency's 
most  humble  &  respectful  Servant,  Daniel  Bondet. 

This  petition  of  the  minister  was  referred  to  Col.  Heath- 
cote  for  examination,  who  reported  favorably  upon  it.  His 
field  of  Christian  labors  amoDg  the  Indians  was  at  a  place 
called  New  Oxford,  near  Boston,  with  a  salary  of  £25  per 
annum.  During  this  mission.  Gov.  Haughton,  Increase 
Mather,  with  others,  certified  "  that  he  with  great  faithful- 
ness, care  and  industry,  discharged  his  duty  both  in  reference 
to  Christians  and  Indians,  and  was  of  an  unblemished  life 
and  conversation."  In  consideration  of  his  past  services,  the 
£25  was  continued  by  the  "  Corporation  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  among  the  Savages,"  after  he  removed  to  New 
Rochelle.  When  Lord  Belmont  became  Governor  of  the 
Province,  he  withdrew  this  sum  from  Mr.  Bondet,  with  £50 
which  the  government  had  also  settled  upon  him.  All  that 
remained  to  support  himself  and  familj^  was  the  small  sum  of 
£20  a  year,  allowed  by  his  congregation. 

This  little  Huguenot  flock  must  have  been  poor  indeed, 
as  we  gather  from  the  following  curious  old  petition,  pre- 
sented to  Gov.  Fletcher,  for  relief. 

PETITION     FROM     N.     ROCHELLE. 

To  His  Excellency  Col,  Benjamin  Fletcher,  Governor  in 
Chief  and  Capt.  Gen'al  of  y'  Province  of  New- York  and 
Dependencies,  &c. 

The  humble  petition  of  y'  inhabitants  of  New  Rochelle. 
Hmnbhj  Sheweth,—T\i2it  your  petitioners  having  been 

forced  by  the  late  persecutions  in  France  to  forsake  their 


MR.    BONDET. 


307 


coimtr}^  and  estates,  and  flye  to  y'  Protestant  Princes,  tlieir 
Majestyes  by  their  proclamation  of  y'  25th  of  April,  1689, 
did  grant  them  an  asile  in  all  their  dominions,  with  their 
Royall  protection  ;  wherefore  they  were  invited  to  come  and 
buy  lands  in  this  province,  to  the  end  that  they  might  by  their 
labour  help  the  necessityes  of  their  familyes,  and  Did  spend 
therein  all  their  small  store,  with  the  help  of  their  friends, 
whereof  they  did  borrow  great  sums  of  money.  They  are 
above  twenty  *  *  *  (MS.  torn)  poor  and  needy,  not  able 
*  *  *  *  ties  and  clothing  much  *  *  *  *  they  did 
hitherto  leave  above  their  *  *  *  *  thereby  reduced  to  a 
lamentable  condition,  as  having  been  compelled  to  sell,  for 
that  purpose,  the  things  which  were  most  necessary  for  their 
use.     Wherefore  your  petitioners  humbly  pra}^ 

That  your  Excellency  may  be  pleased  to  take  their  case 
in  serious  consideration,  and  out  of  charity  and  pity  to  grant 
them  for  some  years  what  help  and  privileges  your  Excellency 
shall  think  convenient. 

And  your  petitioners,  in  duty  bound,  shall  ever  pray,  &c, 

Thauet. 
Elei  Cothouneau. 

Besides  his  poverty,  Mr.  Bondet  appears  to  have  had,  like 
all  faithful  ministers,  his  peculiar  religious  trials.  One  of 
his  flock,  a  Mr.  Villeponteux,  complained  to  the  Lieut. 
Governor,  that  his  pastor  refused  "  to  come  to  baptize  a 
childe  of  his  newly  born,  and  in  danger  of  dying."  The 
child  recovering,  the  Christian  rite  was  performed  by  a  Mr. 
Peter  Peyret,  styled  in  the  account,  Minister  of  y*'  French 
Congregation.  Some  days  after,  the  complainant,  who  seems 
to  have  been  an  elder,  was  deposed  by  Mr.  Bondet  and  the 
other  elders,  from  his  office.  Of  this  he  complains,  and  asks 
for  the  Presbytery  of  the  French  Congregation  in  New- York 
to  examine  into  the  proceeding. 

The  early  Huguenot  preacher  lived  to  see  better  times. 


308  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

Col.  Heathcote,  in  1705,  recommended  him  to  the  friendly 
notice  of  the  "  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel." 
He  styles  him  "  a  good  man,  and  preaches  very  intelligibly 
in  English,  which  he  does  every  third  Sunday  in  his  French 
Congregation,  when  he  uses  the  Liturgy  of  the  Church.  He 
has  done  a  great  deal  of  service,  since  his  first  coming  into 
this  country,  and  is  well  in  the  thoughts  of  the  society.  He 
has  thirty  pounds  a  year  settled  on  him  out  of  the  Public 
Revenue  here,  as  the  French  Minister  in  York  hath ;  but 
that  is  paid  with  so  much  uncertainty,  that  he  starves  under 
the  prospect  of  it." 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Bartow  was  then  pastor  of  the  Established 
Church  in  New  Rochelle,  and  Col.  Heathcote  suggests  that 
the  "poor  gentleman"  might  be  permitted  to  help  him  and 
Mr.  Muirson  "  in  taking  care  of  the  scattering  towns  of  their 
parishes  ;  especially  Mr.  Bartow's,  where  it  is  impossible  for 
any  one  to  manage  it."  He  also  requests  some  French 
Common  Prayer  Books  and  Catechisms,  for  the  use  of  the 
"Westchester  Huguenots. 

These  requests  were  not  in  vain.  In  the  year  1709,  Mr. 
Bondet  was  commissioned  a  minister  of  the  Church  of 
England  at  New  Rochelle,  and  his  congregation  became  con- 
formed to  its  services.  The  next  year.  Gov.  Hunter  gave 
license  for  the  congregation  to  erect  a  new  Church  of  England, 
as  by  law  established.  This  faithful  Huguenot  preacher  died 
in  1 772,  having  served  the  parish  over  20  years,  and  be- 
queathed his  library  of  400  volumes  to  the  church. 

We  have  seen  a  copy  of  a  letter  written  by  D.  Bonrepos 
in  1690,  to  Lieut.  Gov.  Leisler,  from  New  Rochelle.  The 
Governor  had  ordered  the  nomination  of  some  person  for 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  the  writer  informs  him  they  could 
make  no  election,  as  the  proper  persons  had  no  knowledge  of 
the  English  tongue.  He  signs  this  communication  as  pastor 
of  this  "  French  colony." 

Before  the  erection  of   the    Huguenot  church  at  New 


'  EARLIEST    CHURCH    IN    NEW-YORK.  309 

Rochelle,  as  stated  by  Mr.  Weiss,  men  frequently  walked  to 
New-York,  a  distance  of  twenty-three  miles,  to  attend 
the  Sabbath  services  of  the  Huguenots.  On  Marketfield- 
street,  near  the  Battery,  they  early  erected  a  humble  chapel, 
and  hither  on  every  Lord's  day,  assembling  from  the  city, 
and  Staten  Island,  and  by  wagons,  in  which  they  lodged  all 
night,  from  Long  Island,  New  Rochelle,  might  they  be  seen 
worshipping  God,  without  the  fear  of  royal,  bloody,  per- 
secuting edicts.  In  1704  was  founded  a  more  commodious 
place  of  worship,  L'Eglise  du  St.  Esprit,  and  cemetery,  which 
occupied  a  spot  directly  opposite  the  Custom  House  on  Pine- 
street.  It  was  built  of  stone,  plain,  neat,  and  nearly  square. 
Its  bell  was  the  gift  of  Sir  Henry  Ashurst,  of  London,  and 
on  the  front  of  the  edifice  was  inscribed — 

yEDES      SACRA. 

GALLOR      PROT. 

REFORM 

FONDA.      1^04. 

PENITUS 
REPAR.      1141. 

In  our  day  its  walls  have  been  taken  down,  the  dead  re- 
moved, and  the  place  is  now  devoted  to  mammon.  The  suc- 
cessors (Episcopalians),  of  L'Eglise  du  St.  Esprit,  then 
erected  the  splendid  marble  edifice  in  Leonard-street,  where 
the  doctrines  of  the  ever  blessed  Reformation  still  continue 
to  be  preached  in  the  same  tongue  by  which  they  were  so 
eloquently  declared  by  Claude  and  Saurin  nearly  two  cen- 
turies ago. 

Strange  as  it  may  appear,  the  French  Protestants  were 
watched  by  their  old  enemies,  even  after  they  had  reached 
this  continent.  Every  reader  of  history  remembers  the 
blood-thirsty  Pedro  Melendez,  and  his  horrid  butchery  of  the 
infant  Huguenot  colony,  established  1564,  in  Florida.  Upon 
landing,  he  exclaimed  :  "  I  am  Melendez  of  Spain.  The 
Frenchman,  who  is  a  Catholic,  I  will  spare  :  every  heretic 
shall  die."     Two  hundred  persons  were  butchered  on  the 


310  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

sjDOt,  and  900  more,  who  escaped,  were  afterwards  murdered 
near  St.  Augustine,  not   as  Frenchmen,  but   as  Lutherans. 
Such  was  the  bloody  zeal  of  that  proud  and  bigoted  Romanist, 
Philip  II.,  towards  the  poor  Protestants  seeking  a  safe  asy- 
lum near  his  distant  American  provinces,  more  than  a  cen- 
tury before  the  period  of  which  we  are  writing.    The  Jesuits, 
have  ever  been  the  enemies  of  civil  and  religious   liberty. 
Henry  the  Great  rather  favored  his  subjects  in  this  respect, 
•*''  and  in  1610,  felt  the  fatal  knife  of  Ravillac.     For  more  than 
two  centuries,  the  suspicion  has  weighed  heavily  against  the 
Jesuits,  of  their  having  instigated  secretly  this  regicide  to  his 
,  dark  and  murderous  deed.      That  royal  archfiend  against  the 
1  j  1  French  Protestants,  Louis  XIV.,  was  a  complete  slave  to  the 
Jesuits  ;   La  Chaise  was  his  confessor. 

During  his  reign,  a  number  of  this  religious  order  went 
on  missions,  to  convert  the  Indians  of  Canada,  some  of  whom 
appear  conspicuously  in  the  political  movements  of  that  pe- 
riod. Gov.  Dougan,  in  1687,  publicly  remonstrated  against 
the  Jesuits  interfering  with  the  Five  Nations,  and  requests 
that  Mons.  De  Lamberville,  one  of  their  well-known  mission- 
aries, would  meddle  only  with  the  affairs  belonging  to  his 
function,  and  not  with  the  Indians  under  the  British  author- 
ity, or  as  he  calls  them,  "  our  Indians." 

At  this  period,  1687,  the  Marquis  De  Denonville  made  a 
military  expedition  against  the  Iroquois  Indians  of  the  Gen- 
esee country  and  Niagara,  according  to  the  instructions  of 
the  French  monarch.  It  was  estimated  that  they  then  pos- 
sessed five  villages,  and  could  bring  upon  the  field  of  battle 
two  thousand  warriors.  The  marquis  says  to  his  royal  mas- 
ter, "  We  must  not  go  after  them  to  chastise  them  by  halves, 
but  to  annihilate  them,  if  possible."  The  Marquis  of  Seig- 
nelay.  Governor  of  Montreal,  also  presented  his  views  on  this 
subject  to  the  King,  and  uses  the  following  remarkable  lan- 
guage :  "  It  is  likewise  necessary  for  the  establishment  of  reli- 
gion, which  will  never  spread  itself  there,  except  by  the  de- 


SUBJUGATION    OF    THE    IROQUOIS.  311 

struction  of  the  Iroquois  ;  so  that  upon  the  success  of  the  war 
which  the  Governor  General  of  Canada  proposes  to  commence 
against  the  Iroquois  on  the  15th  of  May  next,  depends  either 
the  ruin  of  the  country  and  of  religion,  if  he  be  not  assisted, 
or  the  establishment  of  religion,  commerce,  and  the  King's 
power  over  all  North  America,  if  he  be  granted  the  aid  he 
demands."  Sentiments  worthy  of  Poj)e  Pius  V, !  and  the 
marquis  strengthens  his  argument,  because  the  expense  was 
never  better  employed,  since,  "  independent  of  the  salva- 
tion of  the  quantity  of  souls  in  that  vast  country,  to  which 
His  Majesty  will  contribute  by  establishing  the  faith  there, 
he  will  secure  to  himself  an  empire  of  more  than  a  thousand 
leagues  in  extent,  from  the  mouth  of  the  River  St.  Lawrence 
to  that  of  the  River  Mississippi,  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico." 

The  King  fully  indorsed  these  views,  and  replied  to  them 
from  Versailles,  30th  March,  1687,  that  "he  expects  to 
learn,  at  the  close  of  this  year,  the  entire  destruction  of  the 
greatest  part  of  those  savages  ;  and  as  a  number  of  prisoners 
may  be  made,  and  His  Majesty  thinks  he  can  make  use  of 
them  in  his  galleys,  he  desires  him  to  manage  so  as  to  retain 
them  until  he  have  vessels  for  France."  In  this  conflict  the 
savages  were  overpowered,  and  their  country  devastated  by 
the  French  troops  in  July  following.  A  fort  was  erected  at 
Niagara,  a  missionary  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  left  there,  and 
a  large  wooden  cross,  eighteen  feet  high,  erected  and  blessed 
by  him  on  Good  Friday. 

It  does  not  appear  from  the  account  before  us,  whether 
His  Majesty  obtained  any  Indian  galley  slaves ;  but  De 
Denonville  writes  how  they  treated  some  of  the  enemies  : 
"  We  witnessed  the  painful  sight  of  the  usual  cruelties  of  the 
savages,  who  cut  the  dead  into  quarters,  as  in  slaughter- 
houses, in  order  to  put  them  into  the  pot.  The  greater 
number  were  opened,  while  still  warm,  that  their  blood  might 
be  drank."  * 

*  For  these  accounts,  vide  Paris  Doc.  iii. 


312  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

The  French  then  had  a  line  of  forts  through  the  western 
wilderness,  from  Quebec  to  New  Orleans,  but  now  wanted  to 
cut  a  path  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

Two  years  after,  the  French  Grovernor  of  Canada.planned 
a  project  to  reduce  New  England  and  New-York.  Andros 
was  the  Governor  of  these  provinces,  and  the  Canadian  thus 
refers  *o  him,  in  an  official  communication  : — The  Chevalier 
Andros  is  a  Protestant,  as  well  as  the  whole  English  colony, 
and  there  is  no  reason  to  hope  that  he  will  remain  faithful  to 
the  King  of  England,  James  II.  This  is,  in  plain  English, 
that  he  would  not  become  a  Roman  Catholic  like  his  sove- 
reign. 

According  to  his  plan,  Albany  was  first  to  be  surprised 
and  captured,  and  then  Manhattan  reduced.  The  advan- 
tages of  such  a  conquest  the  Frenchman  tells  his  royal  mas- 
ter, will  be  to  establish  firmly  the  Christian  religion,  as  well 
among  the  Iroquois  as  the  other  savages,  to  whom  we  "  shall 
be  able  to  speak  as  masters,  when  they  are  encircled  on  the 
side  of  Canada  as  well  as  New- York."  He  believes  also 
this  will  be  the  only  means  of  "  firmly  establishing  religion 
throughout  all  North  America."  Louis  of  course  approved 
the  contemplated  expedition,  issuing  his  royal  authority  and 
instructions  for  its  undertaking.  All  faithful  Catholics  were 
to  remain  unmolested  in  the  attacks,  whilst  the  '•  French  re- 
fugees, particularly  those  of  the  pretended  reformed  reli- 
gion," must  he  sent  back  to  France.  What  a  remorseless 
spirit !  The  candid  reader  would  imagine,  that  the  horrid 
scenes  which  this  monarch  had  perpetrated  and  beheld  in  the 
painful  history  of  his  Protestant  subjects  at  home,  would  be 
quite  sufficient,  without  renewing  the  sanguinary  tragedy  on 
a  far  distant  wilderness  shore. 

The  reader  will  not  fail  to  notice  that  these  instructions 
were  given  to  Frontenac,  about  four  years  after  the  memora- 
ble revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 

In  1686,  Denonville,  referring  to  some  Huguenots  who  had 


BURNING    OF    SCHENECTADY.  313 

reached  New-York  from  the  Islands  of  St.  Christopher  and 
Martinique,  calls  them  "  Banditti,"  and  a  "  people  to  oper- 
ate" as  such. 

To  the  thoughtful,  these  movements,  although  at  a  dis- 
tance, were  serious,  and  became  more  alarming  to  the  Pro- 
testant colonists  of  New-York,  both  Dutch  and  French,  when 
news  arrived  of  the  burning  and  massacre  of  Schenectady. 
During  a  heavy  snow  storm,  February  9,  1689,  the  town  was 
entered  at  midnight,  by  the  French  and  their  Indians,  and 
sacked  and  fired.  60  of  the  inhabitants  were  killed  or  burn- 
ed, and  27  taken  prisoners  to  Canada.  Truly  a  sad  and 
frightful  massacre !  The  French  lost  but  21  men  in  this 
expedition,  four  of  whom  were  Indians,  and  these  were  miss- 
ed on  the  road.  But  two  were  killed  during  the  attack.  A 
Popish  plot  was  so  much  feared,  that  the  inhabitants  became 
very  sensitive  on  the  subject.  Some  of  the  Staten  Islanders 
fled  to  the  woods,  whilst  other  Protestant  families  lodged  in 
their  boats,  from  a  threat  said  to  have  been  made  that  the 
Papists  would  cut  the  inhabitants'  throats,  A  committee  of 
safety  was  appointed  in  the  city,  of  which  Abraham  Grouver- 
neur  was  chairman.  Some  of  the  soldiers  in  the  fort  were 
Bomanists,  and  this  helped  to  increase  the  public  anxiety. 
Colonel  Douganwas  suspected,  and  eighteen  men  sent  to  his 
mill  on  Staten  Island,  who  found  "  four  great  guns  hidden 
under  a  blanket,  and  covered  with  bags."  One  man  was 
taken  from  his  bed  at  night,  on  the  island,  and  made  a  pri- 
soner of  war  in  the  fort  for  eight  days.  He  had  uttered 
dangerous  and  revolutionizing  expressions,  and  excused  him- 
self because  he  was  intoxicated,  and  in  a  passion  at  the  mo- 
ment. The  patrol  on  Staten  Island  were  then  ordered  to 
disarm  all  the  Papists,  but  it  was  supposed  they  concealed 
their  arms.  We  have  gathered  these  facts  from  an  old  letter 
written  at  Fort  William,  and  dated  June  19,  1689,  to  the 
Grovernor  of  Boston.  The  writer  says  of  himself:  "  I  being 
intrusted  by  the  committee  to  keep  and  defend  the  fort  for 

VOL.   II — 14 


314  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

their  Majesties  King  William  and  Queen  Mary,''  and  thus 
concludes  his  epistle,  "  In  the  mean  time,  after  myne  re- 
spects, I  recommend  your  Hon  :  to  Almighty  God,  and  re- 
main," &c. 

Lieutenant  Governor  Nicholson  and  Colonel  Dougan  were 
both  suspected  of  favoring  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  fearing 
the  gathering  storm,  left  New- York.  Nicholson  had  threat- 
ened to  fire  the  city.  Dougan,  it  is  well  known,  had  erected 
a  Jesuit  college,  and  a  few  students  entered  ;  but,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  an  old  chronicle,  '•'  no  boddy  imitating  them,  the 
college  vanished." 

Whether  the  Roman  Catholics  really  planned  a  revolt 
against  the  Protestants  of  New- York,  is  a  question  which 
cannot  at  this  day  be  decided.  We  shall  present  the  histori- 
cal facts  in  the  case,  as  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  collect 
them.  A  committee  of  safety  was  appointed,  and  Jacob 
Xeisler  was  commissioned  by  them  to  be  captain  of  the  fort, 
and  afterward  commander-in-chief  of  the  province.  There 
is  on  record,  a  public  declaration  of  the  soldiers,  in  which 
they  state  such  a  step  necessary ;  and  among  the  reasons 
they  name  for  the  measure,  is  that  of  preserving  the  "  life  of 
every  Protestant  that  might  have  perished,  and  every  house 
burned  or  destroyed."  Leisler  entered  the  fort  where  the 
Battery  now  stands,  in  New- York,  on  the  2d  day  of  June, 
1689,  and  says  that  "  5  captains  and  400  men  seem  all  to  be 
unanimously  agreed  to  the  preservation  of  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion and  the  fort,"  The  Protestants  of  Connecticut  congra- 
tulated their  brethren  in  New- York  on  the  defensive  stand 
they  had  taken,  and  appointed  Major  Nathan  Gold  and  Cap- 
tain James  Fitch  to  bear  the  intelligence.  Upon  their 
arrival,  they  also  advised  "  that  no  Papist  be  suffered  to 
come  into  y®  fort,  as  it  had  been  fired  in  three  places,  under 
which  roufe  lay  y®  ammunition,  so  wicked  and  cruell  a 
Papistical  design  to  have  destroyed  you  and  us,  and  y^  fort 
andjtowne,  it  made  our  flesh  to  tremble." 


STATEN   ISLAND    HUGUENOTS.  315 

"  High  praise  unto  the  Almighty  God,  that  you  and  we, 
fort  and  city,  were  preserved." 

From  the  "  Paris  Documents"  for  1689-1690,  we  gain 
much  valuable  information  concerning  the  transactions  of  the 
French  officials  in  Canada  at  that  period.  Frontenac  was 
appointed  Governor  of  that  country  in  June,  1689,  and  here 
we  have  found  his  public  as  well  as  private  instructions  in 
reference  to  the  proposed  conquest  of  New-York. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  the  Protestants  of  that 
settlement  were  sensitive  upon  the  subject  of  religious  rights, 
and  especially  the  French  Protestants.  At  this  very  period, 
the  brethren  in  France  were  suffering  the  most  cruel  acts  of 
vengeance.  Bassville,  the  intendant  of  Languedoc,  was  the 
most  eminent  for  his  bitter  opposition  to  the  Huguenots. 
One  author  (Boulainvilliers)  declares  :  "  One  hundred  thou- 
sand persons  were  sacrificed  to  justify  the  conduct  of  M.  de 
Bassville,  and  of  that  number  the  tenth  part  perished  in  the 
flames,  by  the  gibbet,  or  on  the  wheel."  Well  might  those 
who  had  escaped  to  this  land  rejoice,  and  fear  at  the  same 
time  their  old  and  bitter  enemy. 

Staten  Island,  that  enchanting  spot  in  the  beautiful  Bay 
of  New-York,  became  a  favorite  asylum  for  the  French  Pro- 
testants. It  should  be  called  the  Huguenot  Island.  As  far 
as  we  can  ascertain,  they  reached  this  region  in  considerable 
numbers,  about  the  year  1675,  with  a  pastor,  and  erected  a 
church  near  Richmond  village.  We  have  often  visited  the 
spot,  and  the  only  remains  that  mark  the  venerable  place, 
are  one  or  two  dilapidated  broken  grave-stones. 

Some  of  these  settlers  were  French  Yaudois,  or  Waldenses ; 
and  Dominie  Drisius,  a  minister  of  the  Reformed  church  in 
London,  had  been  called  to  New  Amsterdam.  Well  ac- 
quainted with  the  French  language,  he  occasionally  visited 
the  island,  and  preached  to  these  people.  His  colleague  was 
the  Rev.  John  Megapolensis  ;  and  the  Rev.  Dr  De  Witt, 
of  New- York,  now  has  in  his  possession  an  original  letter 


316  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

written  by  these  clergymen  during  the  year  1657.  It  is  the 
"State  of  the  Churches  in  New  Netherland,  Anno  1657," 
and  addressed  to  the  "Keverend,  Pious,  Learned  Sirs,  Fa- 
thers and  Brothers  in  Chr'to  lesu,"  of  Holland.  At  that 
period,  there  were  only  j&ve  or  six  congregations  in  the  pro- 
vince ;  and,  speaking  of  the  natives,  they  remark  :  "  Of  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen  or  Indians  here,  we  can  say  but 
little  .  .  .  We  have  one  Indian  here  with  us  full  two  years, 
so  that  he  could  read  and  write  good  Dutch  :  we  instructed 
him  in  the  grounds  of  Religion  ;  he  also  answered  publicly 
in  the  church,  and  repeated  the  prayers.  We  likewise  pre. 
sented  him  with  a  Bible,  in  order  to  work  through  him  some 
good  among  the  Indians.  But  it  all  resulted  in  nothing. 
He  has  taken  to  drinking  of  Brandy  ;  he  pawned  the  bible, 
and  became  a  real  beast,  who  is  doing  more  harm  than  good 
among  the  Indians." 

The  early  history  of  some  of  those  Bichmond  county 
Huguenots  is  almost  the  reality  of  romance.  Henri  de  La 
Tourette  fled  from  La  Vendee  after  the  revocation  ;  and,  to 
avoid  suspicion,  gave  a  large  entertainment ;  and,  whilst  the 
guests  were  assembled,  he  suddenly  left,  with  his  wife,  for 
the  sea-coast.  This  was  not  far  off,  and  which  he  reached, 
when  he  escaped  on  board  a  vessel  bound  for  Charleston. 
The  ship  was  either  cast  away  upon  the  shores  of  Staten 
Island,  or  made  a  harbor  in  distress.  A  long  list  of  repect- 
able  and  pious  descendants  trace  their  origin  to  this  source  5 
and  one  of  them  now  is  pastor  of  a  Dutch  Beformed  church 
not  far  from  Bichmond.  The  chateau  of  La  Tourette  is 
still  standing  in  France,  and  a  branch  of  the  family  exists 
there.  Some  years  ago,  one  of  the  name  visited  this  country 
far  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  old  family  Bible,  but  he 
was  unsuccessful,  as  the  venerable  and  holy  volume  had  been 
given  long  before  to  a  refugee  family  in  Germany. 

To  the  tolerant  measures  of  "  Good  Queen  Anne,"  many 
of  the  Huguenots  obtained  a  peaceful  abode  upon  the  shores 


STATEN   ISLAND.  317 

of  this  island.  In  their  escape  from  France,  multitudes  had 
been  kindly  received  in  England ;  and  afterwards  were  offer- 
ed, and  accepted,  a  home  in  the  province  of  New- York. 
Like  their  brethren  in  Ulster,  the  descendants  of  the  French 
Protestants  on  Staten  Island  sometimes  occupy  the  same 
farms,  which  their  pious  ancestors  obtained  more  than  a 
century  and  a  half  ago.  The  Disosways  and  Guions  are 
well-known  examples  among  this  number.  Few  regions 
are  blessed  with  more  churches.  The  island  is  not  more 
than  12  or  14  miles  long,  and  about  3  wide,  with  a  popula- 
tion numbering  17  or  18,000  ;  still,  it  has  nearly  thirty  evan- 
gelical congregations.  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  mos* 
of  the  ofl&cial  and  zealous  members  in  these  Christian 
churches  are  lineal  branches  of  the  French  Protestants. 
Channing  Moore,  the  former  excellent  Bishop  of  Virginia, 
once,  and  for  a  long  time,  was  pastor  of  the  Episcopalian 
congregation  here,  and  connected  by  marriage  with  an  old 
Huguenot  family.  His  son,  a  most  faithful  minister,  suc- 
ceeded him,  and  is  still  preaching  the  doctrines  of  the  ever- 
blessed  Reformation.  That  eloquent  divine,  the  late  Rev. 
Dr.  Bedell,  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  father  of  the  Rev.  gen- 
tleman of  that  name  in  New- York,  was  of  the  same  origin 
on  the  maternal  side,  and  a  Staten-Islander  by  birth. 

The  Dutch  and  the  French,  as  was  the  case  at  New 
Paltz,  originally  settled  this  island,  but  here  generally  inter- 
married ;  and  the  two  races  united — of  holy  spirit  and  feel- 
ing, have  ever  formed  the  most  influential  population.  Dur- 
ing the  Revolutionary  struggle,  the  husband  of  Mrs.  Disos- 
way  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  common  enemy.  She 
was  the  sister  of  the  brave  and  well  known  Capt.  Nathaniel 
Randolph,  or  Randell,  as  then  called,  who  had  greatly  an- 
noyed the  British.  One  of  their  officers  promised  to  pro- 
cure her  husband's  release,  if  she  would  induce  her  brother 
to  leave  the  American  ranks.  But  she  indignantly  replied  : 
"  If  I  could  act  so  dastardly  a  part,  think  you  that  Gen. 


318  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

Washington  has  but  one  Capt.  Randolph  in  his  army  1  " 
They  were  Huguenots  on  both  sides  of  the  families.  In  the 
earliest  records  of  Staten  Island,  we  find  these  Huguenot 
names  :  Fontaine,  Reseau,  La  Tourette,  Bedell,  Rutan,  Poil- 
lon,  Mercereau,  La  Conte,  Butten,  Maney,  Perrin,  Larseleue, 
Cruse,  De  Pue,  Corssen,  Martineau,  Teunise,  Morgane,  Se 
Guine,  Jouerney. 

Their  descendants  are  among  the  most  respectable  citi- 
zens, and  intermarrying  with  the  Dutch  settlers  of  Richmond 
county,  almost  every  old  family  claims  relationship  to  the 
Huguenots.  Few  communities  are  blessed  with  a  better 
population — moral,  industrious,  thrifty,  and  religious. 

New  England  generously  provided  lands  for  the  French 
Protestants ;  and  contributed  to  the  support  of  those  who 
had  barely  escaped  from  France  with  their  lives.  Soon 
they  became  identified  with  our  useful  and  honorable  citi- 
zens. Faneuil  Hall,  in  Boston,  where  the  voice  of  our  na- 
tional independence  was  so  early  heard  in  the  struggle  for 
liberty,  was  the  gift  of  the  son  of  a  Huguenot.  The  honored 
edifice  still  retains  his  name,  and  its  venerable  walls  are 
adorned  with  his  full-length  portrait. 

The  Gleneral  Court  of  Massachusetts  granted  a  tract  of 
land,  eight  miles  square,  to  Joseph  Dudley,  William  Hough- 
ton, and  Maj.  Robert  Thompson.  This  region  was  then 
called  by  the  Indians  the  Nipmug  country,  and  11,000  or 
12,000  acres  were  set  apart  for  the  village  of  Oxford,  in  1686, 
at  that  period  literally  a  howling  wilderness,  but  now  near 
the  peaceful  and  well  known  town  of  Worcester.  Gabriel 
Bernon  is  named  as  undertaker  for  the  plantation,  and  the 
Huguenots  purchased  portions  of  it  at  low  prices.  These 
sailed  from  France  in  1684  or  1685  ;  and  so  secret  was  the 
notice  for  their  departure,  that  one  family  (Germaine)  relates, 
Thei/  left  the  ]}ot  boiling  over  the  fire.  Upon  their  arrival 
at  Boston,  they  went  to  Fort  Hill,  and  were  kindly  enter- 
tained until  they  removed  to  Oxford, 


HUGUENOT    FORT,    MASSACHUSETTS.  319 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  refugees  was  to  settle  a  minis- 
ter, giving  him  forty  pounds,  and  increased  his  salary  after- 
wards. Surrounded  by  the  savages  on  every  side,  they 
erected  a  fort,  the  traces  of  which  can  still  be  seen,  over- 
grown with  roses,  currant-bushes,  and  other  shrubbery. 
During  a  visit  to  this  venerable  spot,  Mrs.  Sigourney  wrote 
the  beautiful  lines ; 

"  Green  Vine !  that  manliest  in  thy  fresh  embrace 
Yon  old  grey  reck,  I  hear  that  thou  with  them 
Didst  brave  the  ocean  surge  : 

Say,  drank  thy  germ 
The  dews  of  Languedoc  ?  or  slow  uncoil'd 
An  infant  fibre  'mid  the  fruitful  mould 
Of  smiling  Roussillon  ?  or  didst  thou  shrink 
From  the  fierce  footsteps  of  a  warUke  train. 
Brother  with  brother  fighting  unto  death 
At  Fair  Rochelle  ? 
Hast  thou  no  tale  for  me  ?  " 

This  fortification,  however,  did  not  render  their  abode 
safe  from  the  murderous  assaults  of  their  savage  enemy.  A 
Mr.  Johnson,  with  his  three  children,  were  massacred  by  the 
Indians.  His  wife  was  a  sister  of  Andrew  Sigourney,  one^ 
of  the  earliest  Huguenots  who  emigrated.  Hearing  the  re- 
port of  guns,  he  ran  to  the  house,  seized  his  sister,  and 
escaped  with  ber  through  a  back  door.  After  this  attack 
and  murder,  the  French  deserted  their  forest  home,  and  re- 
paired to  Boston,  in  the  year  1696,  where  vestiges  of  their 
industry  and  agricultural  taste  long  remained.  Many  of  the 
pears  retain  their  French  names  to  this  day,  and  the  region 
is  celebrated  for  its  variety  and  excellence  of  this  deli- 
cious fruit. 

Besides  the  Rev.  Mr.  Daille,  a  Mr.  Lawrie  is  mentioned 
as  one  of  the  Protestant  French  pastors  in  Boston.  It  is 
a  remarkable  fact,  that  this  very  church,  in  after  years,  was 
used  by  the  French  Catholics,  who  escaped  to  the  United 


320 


AMERICAN   HUGUENOTS. 


States  from  the  horrors  of  the  French  Revolution  ;  and  sub- 
sequently a  Universcilist  church  was  erected  on  the  site. 
What  a  striking  comment  upon  the  glorious  and  tolerant 
principles  of  our  free  and  happy  land  1 

The  warmer  climes  of  the  South  induced  many  of  the 
Huguenots  to  settle  in  the  colony  of  Virginia.  Their  neat 
little  cottages,  coTered  with  grape-vines  and  the  wild  honey- 
suckle, might  be  seen  scattered  along  James  River,  quite 
down  to  the  vicinity  of  Richmond.  One  writer  of  the 
day  says  :  "  Most  of  the  French  who  lived  at  that  town 
{Monacan)y  on  James  River,  removed  to  Trent  River,  in 
North  Carolina,  where  the  rest  were  expected  daily  to  come 
to  them,  when  I  came  away,  which  was  in  August,  1708." 

A  curious  relic  of  the  French  Protestants  in  Virginia  has 
recently  been  found  in  the  possession  of  a  descendant  resid- 
ing at  Petersburg.  It  is  entitled  "  A  register  containing 
the  baptisms  made  within  the  church  of  the  French  refugees, 
in  the  Manakin  Town,  in  Virginia,  within  the  parish  of  King 
William,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1721,  the  25th  of  March. 
Done  by  Jacques  Soblet,  clerk." 

This  manuscript  contains  about  twenty-five  pages  of  fools- 
cap paper,  written  in  French,  and  remains  a  standing  evi- 
dence of  the  fidelity  of  the  Virginia  Huguenots  to  their 
Christian  duties  and  ordinances.  As  a  specimen  of  their 
entries,  we  have  copied  the  following  literally,  not  even  cor- 
recting the  orthography  : — 

"Jean  Chastain  fils  de  Jean  Chastain  ett  de  Marianne  Chastain 
les  pere  et  mere  nee  le  26  de  Septembre,  1*721,  est  baptise  le  o'Oc- 
tobre,  par  M.  Fountainne.  lis  ava  pour  paran  and  marene  pierre 
david  et  anne  david  sa  femme  le  quels  ont  de  claree  que  cest  enfun 
est  nee  le  jour  et  an  que  deshus.  Signee, 

"  Jaque  Soblet,  Clerk," 

John  Chastain,  son  of  John  Chastain  and  of  Marianne  Chastain, 
the  father  and  mother,  born  the  20th  of  September,  1721 ;  was  bap- 
tized the  5th  of  October,  by  Mr.  Fontaine.     He  had  for  god-father 


RECORD    OF    MONACAN    TOWN.  321 

and  god-mother,  Peter  David  aud  Anne  David  his  wife,  who  have  de- 
clared that  this  infant  was  born  the  day  and  year  aforesaid. 

Signed,  Jaque  Soblet,  Clerk. 

Here  is  another  : — 

"Le  17  Juliet,  1*733,  est  ne  Jean  Gueran,  fils  de  Pierre  Gueran 
and  de  Magdelaine  Gueran,  a  eu  pour  parain  Gideon  Chambon  et 
Antoine  Trabut,  pour  maraine  Maraine  Laucadon  et  Marte  Chastain : 
a  ete  baptize  par  M.  Marye.  Jean  Chastain." 

July  1*7 th,  1733,  was  born  John  Guerrant  son  of  Peter  Guerrantand 
of  Magdalen  Guerrant.  He  had  for  god-fathers  Gideon  Chambon  and 
Anthony  Traubut,  for  god-mothers  Marianne  Loucadou  and  Marte 
Chastain.     He  was  baptized  by  Mr.  Marye.  Jean  Chastain. 

"Le  12  Novambre,  1726,  est  nee  Olimpe  Dupui,  fillie  de  Jean 
Jaqua  Dupui  et  de  Susane  Dupui,  a  ete  baptize  par  M.  Suift ;  a  eu  pour 
parain  Jean  Levilian  pour  maraine  Phileipe  Dupui  et  Judith  Dupui. 
Les  partie  ont  declare  qui  lanfan  est  nee  le  jour  et  an  se  desus. 

"  Jean  Chastain,  Clerk." 

November  the  12th,  1729,  was  born  013'mpia,  daughter  of  John 
James  and  Susan  Dupuy :  she  was  baptized  b}"  Mr.  Smith,  and  had 
for  god-father  John  Levilaine,  for  god-mothers  Philippa  and  Judith 
Dupuy.  The  parties  have  certified  that  the  infant  was  born  the  day 
and  year  aforesaid.  Jean  Chastain,  Clerk. 

"Le  1  avril,  1740,  est  nee  Marie  Wottkins,  fille  de  Stephin  Wott- 
kins  et  de  Judith  sa  fame,  a  eu  pour  parain  William  Hamton  pour 
Marianne  Magdelaine  Chastain  et  Marie  Farsi.         Jean  Chastain." 

April  1st,  1740,  was  born  Mary,  daughter  of  Stephen  Watkins 
and  Judith  his  wife.  She  had  for  god-father  William  Hampton,  for 
god-mothers  Magdalen  Chastain  and  Mary  Farsi.       Jean  Chastain. 

Two  or  three  pages  of  the  manuscript  contain  records  of 
deaths.     The  following  is  one  : 

"Le  29  de^'anvier;  1723-24,  morut  le  Sieur  Anthoine  Trabue, 
agee  danviron  sinquaintsix  a  sept  annees  fut  enterree  le  30  dumeme 
moy.  "J-  SoBLETT,  Clerk." 

"January  29th,  1723-4,  died,  Sir  Anthony  Trabue,  aged  about 
fifty-six  or  seven  years.  He  was  buried  the  36th  of  the  same 
month.  J.  SoBLETT,  Clerk, 

VOT..   II. — 14* 


322 


AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 


Huguenot  Names  foiiiid  i?i  the  Register  of  Baptism. 

Chastain,  David,  Monford,  Djkar,  Xeirn  (minister),  Dupuj,  Bilbo, 
Dutoi,  Salle,  Martain,  Allaigi'e,  Yilain,  Soblet,  Chambon,  Levilain, 
Trabu,  Loucadou,  Harris,*  Gasper,  Wooldridge,*  Flournoj,  Amis, 
Banton,  Ford,*  Sasain,  Solaigre,  Givodan,  Mallet,  Dabruil,  Guerrant, 
Sabattie,  Dupre,  Bernard,  Amonet,  Porter,  Rapine,  Lacy,  Watkins,* 
Cocke,*  Bondurant,  Goin,  Pero,  Pean,  Deen,  Robinson,*  Edmond, 
Benin,  Stanford,  Forqueran,  Smith,*  AVilliamson,*  Roberd,  Brook,* 
Brian,  Faure,  Don,  Bingli,  Reno,  Lesueur,  Pinnet,  Trent,  Sumter, 
Morriset,  Jordin,  Gavain. 

]N"ames  of  Negroes. — Thomberlin  (Northumberland),  Joan,  Jaque, 
Janne,  Anibal,  Guillaume,  Jean,  Pierre,  Olive,  Robert,  Jak,  Julienne, 
Francois,  Susan,  Primus,  Moll,  Chamberlain,  Dick,  Pegg,  Nanny, 
Tobie,  Dorote,  Agar,  Agge,  Pompe,  Frank,  Cffisar,  Amy,  Isham,  De- 
bora,  Tom,  Harry,  Cipio,  Boseu  (Boatswain),  Sam,  Tabb,  Jupiter,  Es- 
sex, Cuffy,  Orange,  Robin,  Belin,  Samson,  Pope,  Dina,  Fillis,  Matilda, 
Ester,  Yarmouth,  Judy,  and  Adam. 

The  land  on  James  River  formerly  was  the  dwelling 
place  of  the  Monacans,  a  warlike  tribe  of  Indians,  none  of 
whom  had  remained,  but  the  place  retained  their  name,  as  it 
does  to  this  day.  We  find  in  Beverley's  History  of  Vir- 
ginia, a  very  interesting  account  of  the  Manakin  refugees  : 
"  The  assembly  was  very  bountiful  to  those  who  remained  at 
this  town,  bestowing  on  them  large  donations,  money  and 
provisions  for  their  support ;  they  likewise  freed  them  from 
every  public  tax,  for  several  years  to  come,  and  addressed 
the  governor  to  grant  them  a  brief,  to  entitle  them  to  the 
charity  of  all  well-disposed  persons  throughout  the  country, 
which  together  with  the  King's  benevolence,  supported  them 
very  comfortably,  till  they  could  sufficiently  supply  them- 
selves with  necessaries,  which  now  they  do  inditferently  well, 
and  begin  to  have  stocks  of  cattle,  which  are  said  to  give 
abundantly  more  milk,  than  any  other  in  the  country.  I 
have  heard  that  these  people  are  upon  a  design  of  getting 
into  the  breed  of  buffaloes,  to  which  end  they  lay  in  wait  for 

Doubtless  English  names  introduced  bj-  intermarriage. 


FAMILY    OF    FONTAINE.  323 

their  calves,  that  they  may  tame,  and  raise  a  stock  of  them: 
in  which  if  they  succeed,  it  will  in  all  probability  be  greatly  for 
their  advantage  ;  for  these  are  much  larger  than  other  cattle, 
and  have  the  benefit  of  being  natural  to  the  climate.  They 
now  make  many  of  their  own  clothes,  and  are  resolved,  as 
soon  as  they  have  improved  that  manufacture,  to  apply  them- 
selves to  the  making  of  wine  and  brandy,  which  they  do  not 
doubt  to  bring  to  perfection." 

The  Rev.  John  Fontaine,  a  Calvinistic  clergyman,  first 
preached  to  his  refugee  brethren  in  England  and  Ireland 
(1688).  Then  his  sons  emigrated  to  Virginia,  and  here  be- 
came settled  ministers.  From  this  stock  alone,  including 
his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Maury,  have  descended  hundreds  of  the 
best  citizens  of  that  ancient  and  honorable  commonwealth, 
embracing  ministers,  members  of  the  bar,  legislators,  and 
public  officers.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Hawks,  of  New-York,  estimates 
the  relations  of  these  families  in  the  United  States  at  not 
less  than  2,000. 

A  few  years  ago,  he  found  in  a  family  under  his  parochial 
charge,  a  manuscript  autobiography  of  one  of  its  ancestors. 
This  was  James  Fontaine,  who  endured  much  for  the  sake 
of  his  faith,  and  was  a  persecuted  Huguenot.  The  work  has 
been  published,  and  is  full  of  interest.  "  A  Tale  of  the 
Huguenots  ;  or,  Memoirs  of  a  French  Refugee  Family,  with 
an  introduction,  by  F.  L.  Hawks,  D.D." 

Mr.  Fontaine  was  a  noble  example  of  a  true  Huguenot. 
In  his  early  life,  he  was  accustomed  to  the  enjoyments  of 
wealth,  education,  and  refined  society ;  but  for  conscience 
sake  he  was  stripped  of  them  all,  and  forced  to  leave  his 
native  land.  An  exile  in  England,  ignorant  of  its  language, 
and  unaccustomed  to  labor,  he  soon  accommodated  himself 
to  his  altered  circumstances.  He  became  a  skilful  artisan, 
and  worked  successfully  at  his  trade.  At  first,  he  opened  a 
little  store,  with  a  school  also,  to  teach  the  French  language, 
and  he  says  :  "  We  were  in  great  hopes,  that  with  both  to- 


324  ^  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

getlier,  we  should  be  able  to  pay  our  way."  Mr.  Fontaine 
next  undertook  the  manufactory  of  worsted  goods,  which  he 
profitably  carried  on  for  some,  but  became  tired  of  the  busi- 
ness. He  was  anxious  to  unite  with  a  French  church,  and, 
knowing  that  there  were  many  refugees  in  Ireland,  went  to 
Cork,  in  1695. 

At  first  he  preached  in  the  English  church,  after  its  pas- 
tor had  finished  the  services  of  the  day.  Then  the  refugees 
obtained  the  court-room  for  their  worship,  and  finally  he 
gave  up  a  large  apartment  on  the  lower  floor  of  his  house, 
which  was  properly  arranged  with  pulpit  and  seats  for  reli- 
gious meetings.  Mr.  Fontaine  writes  at  that  time  :  "  I  was 
now  at  the  height  of  my  ambition ;  I  was  beloved  by  my 
hearers,  to  whom  I  preached  gratuitously.  Great  numbers 
of  zealous,  pious,  and  upright  persons,  had  joined  our  com- 
munion. This  state  of  things  was  altogether  too  good  to 
last.  My  cup  of  happiness  was  now  full  to  ovei'flowing,  and, 
like  all  the  enjoyments  of  this  earth,  it  proved  very  transi- 
tory." Dissensions  grew  up.  Mr.  Fontaine  was  a  Presby- 
terian, and  some  of  his  hearers  required  him  to  receive 
Episcopal  ordination,  and  this  circumstance  produced  discus- 
sion, until  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  resign  his  charge.  In  an- 
swer to  his  request,  his  elders  "  gave  a  reluctant  and  sorrowful 
consent,  thanking  him  most  humbly  for  the  service  he  has  ren- 
dered to  this  church,  during  two  years  and  a  half,  without 
receiving  any  stipend  or  equivalent  whatsoever  for  his  un- 
ceasing exertions.  .  .  .  We  have  been  extremely  edified 
by  his  preaching,  which  has  always  been  in  strict  accordance 
with  the  pure  Word  of  God.  He  has  imparted  consolation 
to  the  sick  and  afflicted,  and  set  a  bright  example  to  the 
*   flock  of  the  most  exemplary  piety  and  good  conduct." 

Our  refugee  next  removed  to  Bear  Haven,  and  entered 
largely  into  the  flshing  business,  and  now  became  a  justice 
of  the  peace,  exerting  himself  to  break  up  the  contraband 
traffic,  which  he  found   generally  carried   on  "  between  the 


HOUSE    ATTACKED    BY    PIRATES.  325 

Irish  robbers  and  the  French  privateers,"  then  swarming  the 
coast.  From  eight  to  ten  of  these  desperate  characters  were 
sent  to  Cork  for  trial  at  every  assize  of  Bear  Haven.  They 
swore  vengeance  upon  the  upright  magistrate,  and  in  the 
year  1704,  a  French  privateer  hove  in  sight,  and  soon  an- 
chored before  his  house.  She  mounted  ten  guns,  with  a 
crew  of  eighty  seamen,  and  "  four  of  his  Irish  neighbors  to 
act  as  guides."  The  Huguenot  mustered  all  his  men, 
amounting  to  20,  supplying  the  Protestants  with  muskets, 
and  sending  the  Papists  away.  This  reduced  his  force  to 
seven  men  besides  himself,  wife  and  children,  and  four  or 
five  of  these  were  of  little  use. 

Posting  himself  in  a  tower  over  the  door,  the  rest  of  the 
j)arty  occupied  the  different  windows.  The  lieutenant  land- 
ed, with  20  men,  and  approaching  the  dwelling,  he  took  aim 
at  Mr.  Fontaine,  but  missed  him  ;  the  Huguenot  then  fired 
a  blunderbuss,  w^ith  small  leaden  balls,  one  of  which  entered 
the  neck  of  the  privateersman,  and  another  his  side,  when 
his  men  carried  him  back  wounded  to  the  ship.  This  unex- 
pected resistance  from  a  minister  made  the  captain  furious, 
when  he  sent  to  the  attack  20  more  men,  another  command- 
er, with  two  small  cannon.  "  I  must  acknowledge,"  he  says, 
"  that  being  unaccustomed  to  this  sort  of  music,  I  felt  some 
little  tremors  of  fear  when  the  first  cannon-ball  struck 
the  house,  but  I  instantly  humbled  myself  before  my  Maker, 
and  having  committed  myself,  both  soul  and  body,  to  his 
keeping,  my  courage  revived,  and  I  suffered  no  more  from 
fear.  I  put  my  head  out  of  the  window,  to  see  what  eflfect 
the  ball  had  produced  on  our  stone  wall,  and  when  I  per- 
ceived it  had  only  made  a  slight  scratch,  I  cried  out  for  joy, 
'Courage,  my  dear  children,  their  cannon-balls  have  no  more 
effect  on  our  stone  walls  than  if  they  were  so  many  apples.'  " 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Fontaine  displayed  the  greatest  self-pos- 
session and  bravery  on  this  trying  occasion,  carrying  am- 
munition, acting  as  surgeon,  and  encouraging  all  by  her  words 


326  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

and  actions.  "  Courage,  my  children,"  she  said,  "  we  are  in 
the  hands  of  God,  and  it  is  not  fear  that  will  insure  our 
safety  ;  on  the  contrary,  Grod  will  bless  our  courage.  If  you 
cannot  fire  yourselves,  you  can  load  the  muskets  for  your 
father  and  others  who  are  older  and  stronger  than  you  are ; 
drive  away  all  fear,  if  you  can,  and  leave  the  care  of  your 
persons  to  God."  The  fight  continued  from  eight  in  the 
morning  until  four  in  the  afternoon,'  without  intermission. 
Only  two  of  the  Huguenot  family  were  wounded,  a  man,  and 
one  of  the  children  slightly  in  his  finger.  The  enemy  finally 
withdrew,  with  three  men  killed  and  seven  wounded.  Dur- 
ing the  whole  action,  the  Huguenot  minister  did  not  per- 
mit any  one  "  to  taste  a  drop  of  wine  or  spirits,  or  strong 
beer."  A  second  attack  was  feared,  but  soon  the  privateer 
weighed  anchor  and  sailed  away,  and  the  family  returned 
thanks  to  God  for  their  "glorious  deliverance." 

A  full  account  of  this  bold  and  courageous  affair  was 
transmitted  to  Lord  Cox,  then  Chancellor  of  Ireland,  and 
the  Duke  of  Ormond,  who  was  Lord  Lieutenant.  M.  Fon- 
taine recommended  to  them  that  a  fort  should  be  built  there, 
when  "  it  would  be  a  great  place  for  the  settlement  of  French 
refugees,  and  would  also  prove  a  safeguard  to  the  commerce 
of  the  whole  kingdom."  In  the  year  1704,  he  himself  erect- 
ed a  fortification  at  the  back  of  his  house,  purchased  some 
six-pounders,  which  had  been  obtained  from  a  vessel  lost  on 
the  Irish  coast,  and  the  government  supplied  him  with  pow- 
der and  balls.  The  Council  of  Dublin  also  voted  him  £50, 
and  Queen  Anne,  in  1705,  granted  him  a  pension  of  five  shil- 
lings a  day  for  his  services,  and  as  a  French  refugee. 

From  this  daring  defence,  the  name  of  M.  Fontaine  and 
wife  became  known  and  famous  throughout  all  Europe.  The 
French  corsairs  especially  remembered  it,  and  threatened  an- 
other attack.  Indeed,  the  family  constantly  apprehended  such 
a  visit,  and  it  did  take  place  in  1704.  Leaving  their  vessel 
at  midnight,  the  enemy  soon  reached  the  dwelling,  and  fired 


ATTACK    CONTINUED. 


327 


the  outbuildings  and  grain  stacks,  which,  in  less  than  half 
an  hour,  were  completely  enveloped  in  flames.  On  this  oc- 
casion the  whole  garrison  consisted  of  the  two  parents,  chil- 
dren, and  four  servants,  two  of  whom  were  mere  cow-boys. 

By  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  pirates  had  made  a 
breach  through  the  wall  of  the  house  ;  but  the  children,  pro- 
tected by  a  mattress  in  front  of  the  opening,  fired  one  after 
another  at  the  assailants,  as  fast  as  they  possibly  could.  The 
Huguenot  leader,  having  overcharged  his  musket,  it  burst, 
throwing  him  down,  and  broke  three  of  his  ribs  and  right 
collar-bone.  He  was  insensible  for  a  short  time,  but  re- 
marks, "  I  had  already  done  my  part,  for  during  the  course 
of  the  morning,  I  had  fired  five  pounds  of  swan-shot  from  my 
now  disabled  piece."  Notwithstanding  this  unfortunate  ac- 
cident,  an  incessant  fire  was  kept  up  on  both  sides,  until  a 
parley  took  place. 

Life  and  liberty  were  then  guaranteed  to  the  family,  as 
the  terms  of  capitulation,  while  the  enemy  were  to  have  the 
plunder,  and  they  swore  to  these  conditions  as  Frenchmen 
and  men  of  honor.  When  the  officer  and  men  entered  the 
dwelling,  and,  looking  anxiously  around,  saw  only  five  youths 
and  four  cow-herds,  they  suspected  that  an  ambush  had  been 
laid  for  them. 

"  You  need  not  fear  any  thing  dishonorable  from  me," 
said  the  French  preacher;  "you  see  all  our  garrison." 

"  Impossible  !  "  he  replied  :  "  these  children  could  not 
possibly  have  kept  up  all  the  firing." 

The  house  was  then  completely  stripped  of  every  thing, 
not  excepting  the  coats,  which  had  been  thrown  off  in  the 
heat  of  the  action,  and  the  booty  filled  six  boats. 

When  they  departed,  M.  Fontaine,  with  his  two  eldest 
boys  and  two  servants,  were  taken  away  as  prisoners.  In 
vain  did  the  good  man  protest  that  this  was  an  infraction  of 
the  treaty.  The  remonstrances  availed  nothing.  In  a  few 
days,  the  children  and  the  servants  were  sent  ashore,  but  he 


328  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

was  detained  ;  and  then  orders  were  given  to  raise  the  an- 
chor. During  all  these  severe  trials,  his  noble  companion 
did  not  cj[uietlj  sit  down  to  lament  over  her  misfortunes.  She 
first  went  to  the  parish  priest,  who  was  under  great  obliga- 
tions to  her  husband,  and  entreated  him  to  use  his  influence 
for  his  liberation.  But  he  positively  refused.  Perceiving 
the  privateer  under  sail,  she  resolved  to  follow  it  along  the 
shore,  as  long  as  she  could,  and  reaching  a  promontory,  she 
made  a  signal  with  her  apron  on  the  top  of  a  stick.  A 
boat  came  near  the  shore,  and  she  carried  on  a  conver- 
sation with  its  crew  through  a  speaking  trumpet.  After 
much  bargaining,  they  agreed  to  set  M.  Fontaine  at  liberty, 
upon  the  payment  of  £100  sterling.  Of  this  sum  the  excel- 
lent lady  could  only  borrow  £30,  and  the  captain  of  the  pri- 
vateer agreed  to  take  this  amount,  with  one  of  her  sons  as  a 
hostage,  until  the  remaining  £70  was  paid,  calling  her  at  the 
same  time  "  a  second  Judith." 

Mrs.  Fontaine  repaired  forthwith  to  Cork,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  raising  the  sum  wanted,  and  could  easily  have  ob- 
tained it ;  but  the  merchants  of  that  city  objected  to  any 
payment  of  the  kind.  The  privateer  hovered  about  the  Irish 
coast  for  some  time,  expecting  the  ransom  money  ;  but  when 
the  Governor  of  Brest  heard  the  circumstances,  he  con- 
demned the  captain  strongly  for  bringing  a  hostage  away 
with  him,  directly  contrary  to  the  Law  of  Nations.  The 
difficulty  did  not  terminate  here.  As  soon  as  he  was  able, 
the  French  preacher  visited  Kinsale,  and  made  an  affadavit 
of  the  outrage  he  had  suffered.  At  this  place  were  a  govern- 
ment officer  and  a  prison,  and  immediately  all  the  French 
officers,  who  had  been  taken  in  the  war  then  existing,  were 
ironed.  Numbers  of  the  same  description  were  treated  in  a 
similar  manner.  These  retaliatory  measures  excited  great 
public  feeling  against  the  captain  of  the  privateer,  and  he 
was  summoned  to  appear  before  tlie  Governor  of  Brest,  who 
imprisoned  and  even  threatened  to  hang  him.     Upon  his  pro- 


DESCENDATSTTS    OF    FONTAINE.  329 

raising  to  set  at  liberty  the  young  hostage,  and  convey  him 
to  the  place  from  whence  he  had  been  taken,  the  ofl&cer  was 
liberated. 

Mr.  Fontaine  now  determined  to  reside  in  Dublin,  and 
support  his  family  by  teaching  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  French 
languages  ;  and,  in  the  mean  time,  the  G-rand  Jury  of  Cork 
awarded  him  £800  for  his  losses  at  Bear  Haven.  In  his 
new  abode,  he  was  able  to  give  his  children  excellent  educa- 
tions ;  one  became  an  officer  in  the  British  service,  and  three 
entered  college.  The  former  was  John  Fontaine,  and  the 
family  determined  that  he  should  visit  America  for  informa- 
tion ;  and  after  travelling  through  Massachusetts,  New-York, 
New  Jersey,  and  Mar3dand,  he  purchased  a  plantation  in  Vir- 
ginia. Peter,  another  brother,  received  ordination  from  the 
Bishop  of  London,  and  with  Moses,  who  studied  law,  both 
embarked  for  Virginia  in  1716.  Francis,  the  last  son,  re- 
mained at  college. 

There  were  two  daughters  in  his  family.  The  eldest, 
Mary  Anne,  married  Matthew  Maury,  a  Protestant  refugee 
from  Gascony,  in  1716,  and  the  next  year  he  joined  his  rela- 
tions in  this  country.  His  son  was  the  Rev.  James  Maury, 
of  Albemarle,  Virginia,  a  very  estimable  and  useful  clergy- 
man of  the  Church  of  England.  James  was  another  son  of 
the  French  preacher,  who  made  America  his  home,  bringing 
with  him  his  wife,  child,  mother-in-law,  and  thirteen  servants, 
in  1717.  Francis,  in  1719,  was  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of 
London,  on  the  particular  recommendation  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Dublin,  and  then  also  sailed  for  Virginia.  He  became 
a  very  eloquent  and  popular  preacher,  and  settled  in  St, 
Margaret's  parish,  King  William  county. 

In  the  year  1721,  Mr.  Fontaine  lost  his  most  faithful, 
exemplary,  and  pious  companion.  "  A  melancholy  day,"  he 
records  in  his  autobiography,  "  it  was,  that  deprived  me  of 
my  greatest  earthly  comfort  and  consolation.  I  was  bowed 
to  the  very  dust ;  but  it  made  me  think  of  my  own  latter  end, 


330  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

and  make  preparation  to  join  her  once  more."  At  the  con- 
clusion of  his  memoirs,  he  uses  the  following  remarkable  lan- 
guage :  "  I  feel  the  strongest  conviction,  that  if  you  will  take 
care  of  these  memoirs,  your  descendants  will  read  them  with 
pleasure ;  and  I  here  declare,  that  I  have  been  most  particu- 
lar as  to  the  truth  of  all  that  is  herein  recorded. 

"  I  hope  God  will  bless  the  work,  and  that  by  his  grace 
it  may  be  a  bond  of  union  among  you  and  your  descendants, 
and  that  it  may  be  an  humble  means  of  coniBrming  you  all 
in  the  fear  of  the  Lord.         I  am,  dear  children, 

"  Your  tender  father, 

"  James  Fontaine." 

Little  did  the  faithful  Huguenot  preacher  imagine  that 
a  century  after  he  wrote  thus  kindly  to  his  own  children, 
myriads  who  have  been  born  from  the  same  noble  and  holy 
ancestry,  would  be  animated,  cheered,  and  profited  by  his 
useful  life  and  example.      Though  dead,  he  yet  speaketh. 

We  have  dwelt  thus  at  length  upon  the  heroic  history  of 
this  Hugueaot  minister  and  his  family ;  for  where  can  we 
find  an  example  so  worthy  of  imitation  ?  He  was  a  Hugue- 
not in  its  fullest  sense,  bearing  himself  at  all  times,  with  a 
noble  spirit  of  the  true  man,  for  the  work  before  him. 
Never  losing  trust  in  God,  nor  proper  confidence  in  himself, 
he  proved  that,  when  thus  true,  man  need  never  despair. 
His  long  line  of  descendants  in  the  United  States  may  well 
cherish  and  honor  his  memory. 

Mr.  Weiss  has  given  to  the  public,  in  his  chapter  on  the 
Refugees  in  America,  much  new,  full  and  authentic  informa- 
tion of  Huguenots  who  emigrated  to  South  Carolina.  To 
this  region  they  repaired  in  the  largest  numbers  (and  as  late 
as  the  year  1782),  which  were  also  increased  by  additions 
from  the  North  Carolina  settlements. 

The  Huguenot  church  at  Charleston,  alone  sustains  its 
distinctive  character  in  this  country ;  all  similar  French  con- 


HUGUENOT    CHURCH    IN    CHARLESTON.  331 

gregations  having  long  since  mingled  with  their  brethren 
of  other  Christian  denominations.  This  edifice  was  created 
about  1693,  a  plain,  neat,  square,  stone  building.  We  have 
visited  this  time-honored  and  sacred  spot,  and  strolled  about 
its  heaped-up  graves,  many  of  which  still  remain.  What 
hallowing  associations  linger  about  such  a  place  and  such  a 
house  !  Long  since  have  the  early  Huguenots  to  "  La  Caro- 
lina" ceased  to  occupy  its  humble,  open  seats  ;  but  in  the  times 
of  which  we  are  writing,  this  tabernacle  was  filled  with  the 
prayers  and  melodies  of  faithful  French  Protestants. 

Recently  the  old  church  has  been  taken  down,  and  a  beau- 
tiful new,  sacred  edifice  erected  in  its  place.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Rosser,  a  well  known,  able  and  eloquent  preacher,  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,  informed  the  writer 
that  he  was  recently  invited  to  deliver  a  discourse  in  this  new 
house  of  worship.  He  is  himself  a  zealous  descendant  of , the 
French  Protestants  ;  and  when  preparing  to  enter  the  pulpit 
from  the  vestry,  the  elders  robed  him  in  an  old,  worn,  thread- 
bare clerical  gown.  Perceiving  his  surprise,  they  remarked 
that  this  mantle  had  been  used  by  the  early  Huguenot  pas- 
tor ;  and  when  placed  upon  a  stranger,  the  congregation  con- 
sidered it  as  a  mark  of  afi'ection  and  special  honor. 

This  church  uses  a  liturgy  in  its  public  services,  and  I 
have  been  politely  furnished  with  a  copy  by  Daniel  Ravenel, 
Esq.,  one  of  its  compilers.  It  is  "  The  Liturgy  of  the  French 
Protestant  Church,  translated  from  the  editions  of  1737  and 
1772,  published  at  Neuchatel;  with  additional  prayers, 
carefully  selected,  and  some  alterations;  arranged  for  the 
use  of  the  congregation  in  the  city  of  Charleston,  S.  C. 
Charleston:  printed  by  James  S.  Burgess,  1836." 

Joseph  Manigault,  William  Mazyck,  George  W.  Cross, 
and  Daniel  Ravenel,  w^-re  appointed  a  committee  on  the 
translation  of  this  liturgy,  and  presented  the  work  on  Sun- 
day, October  23,  1836,  as  the  result  of  their  efforts.  It  was 
principally  compiled  and  translated  from  a  French  quarto 


332  AMERICAN    HUGUENOTS. 

copy,  formerly  used  in  the  pulpit  of  this  church.  The  work 
contained  no  burial  service,  and  this  was  added  from  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
omitting  the  rubrics.  Neither  were  there  any  "  Occasional 
Prayers  and  Thanksgivings,"  which  were  obtained,  in  part, 
from  the  same  book,  and  out  of  a  French  work,  printed  at 
Amsterdam,  1765,  entitled,  '■^  A  Liturgy  for  the  Protestants 
of  France ;  or,  Prayers  for  the  Families  oj  the  Faithful,  de- 
prived  of  the  public  exercise  of  their  religion  ;  with  a  pre- 
liminary discourse. ' ' 

Only  one  entire  prayer  was  composed  for  the  work,  the 
original  of  which  was  found  among  the  papers  of  Thomas 
S.  Grrimke,  after  his  lamentable  death.  The  translation 
was  made  by  Elias  Hony,  G-eorge  W.  Cross,  and  Mr. 
Grimke,  the  first  and  the  last  of  which  gentlemen  did  not 
live  to  see  the  liturgy  printed,  although  complete  before 
they  died. 

"We  have  been  thus  particular  in  our  references  to  this 
church,  as  it  is  the  only  standing  monument  in  our  entire  land 
of  the  religious  principles  and  worship  which  brought  the  Hu- 
guenots to  this  new  world.  In  every  other  place,  the  refu- 
gees have  long  since  united  with  other  evangelical  sects. 

Originally  four  French  Protestant  churches  existed  in 
South  Carolina,  but  three  of  the  number  became  connected 
with  the  Protestant  EpiscojDal,  and  were  supported  by  the 
public  funds.  This  congregation  alone  sustains  its  original 
and  distinctive  character,  praising  and  worshipping  the  Al- 
mighty, according  to  the  forms  sanctioned  by  the  piety  of 
their  persecuted  and  pious  forefathers. 

In  their  escape  to  this  country,  the  Huguenots  resembled 
the  escape  of  the  Israelites  from  their  Egyptian  bondage  to 
the  wilderness,  where  God  might  give  them  the  rights  of 
conscience  and  the  tabernacle  of  religious  freedom.  We 
cannot  certainly  desire  to  see  perpetuated  among  us  the 
foreign  notions  of  hereditary  excellence ;  still,  as  claiming 


HUGUENOT    PRINCIPLES.  333 

origin  from  this  noble  race  ourselves,  with  their  numerous 
decendants  in  our  land,  we  may  look  back  with  pride  to  our 
Huguenot  forefathers.  Well  may  we  all  boast  of  our  ever 
happy  inheritance.  The  emigration  of  our  ancestors  was  the 
most  momentous  event  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Reli- 
gion, not  priestcraft,  emigrated  with  them — not  the  idolatry 
of  form,  but  simple,  sincere  worship  of  the  Almighty  came 
as  a  companion  with  them  to  the  forests  of  America.  Our 
fathers  were  not  only  Christians,  but  Protestants.  The 
Puritans  of  Winthrop's  fleet,  the  adventurous  companions 
of  Smith,  the  Quaker  outlaw,  the  expatriated  Huguenot,  all 
professed  faith  in  God,  and  in  the  soul  of  man.  They  were 
believers  in  Bible  Christianity,  the  system  inculcating  equal- 
ity among  men,  and  exactly  adapted  in  its  practical  opera- 
tions to  the  wants  and  happiness  of  civil  society  ;  that  sys- 
tem which  has  created  our  liberties,  and  brought  them  up  to 
a  glorious  manhood. 

New- York,  January,  1854. 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS 

EEFERRED  TO,  IN  JUSTIFICATION  OF  THE  TEXT. 


No.  1.— Yol.  I.  pp.  26-28. 

We  have  given  a  brief  analysis  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 
We  deem  it  proper  to  give  in  this  place  the  entire  text,  with 
its  warrant  and  secret  articles,  which,  as  a  whole,  have  not 
been  published  in  any  history  of  France. 

Edict  of  Nantes,  with  its  %oarrant,  and  secret  articles. 

1.  Edict. — Henry,  (fee.  Among  the  infinite  graces  it  has  pleased 
God  to  bestow  on  us,  this  is  the  most  signal  and  remarkable,  that  he 
has  given  us  virtue  and  strength  to  withstand  the  frightful  troubles, 
confusions  and  disorders  which  attended  our  accession  to  the  throne, 
the  country  being  torn  into  parties  and  factions,  the  least  numerous 
of  which  was  as  it  were  the  most  legitimate ;  and  for  having  so 
strengthened  us  against  this  difiiculty,  that  we  have  at  length  sur- 
mounted it,  and  reached  a  harbor  of  safety  and  repose  for  the  State. 
To  whom  alone  be  all  the  glory,  and  to  us  the  honor  and  obligation, 
that  he  has  made  use  of  our  labor  to  accomplish  this  good  work, 
which  has  been  visible  to  all,  if  we  have  performed  what  was  not 
only  of  our  duty  and  ability,  but  something  more  beside,  which 
might  not  have  been  at  any  other  time  proper  to  the  dignity  we  hold, 
which  we  have  no  fear  of  exposing  here,  seeing  that  we  have  so 
freely  exposed  our  own  life.  And  in  this  remarkable  concurrence  of 
so  great  and  perilous  affairs,  it  not  being  in  our  power  to  settle  every 
thing  at  one  and  the  same  time,  it  has  been  necessary  for  us  to  foUaw 


336  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

this  order,  namel}'^,  to  undertake  first  those  things  which  could  be  set- 
tled only  by  force,  and  the  rather  to  remit  and  lay  aside  till  some  other 
time  such  as  could  and  should  be  settled  by  reason  and  justice:  such 
as  the  diffei-ent  views  of  our  good  subjects,  and  the  particular  dis- 
eases of  the  more  healthy  parts  of  the  State,  which  we  deemed  easily 
curable,  after  the  principal  cause  had  been  taken  away,  namely,  the 
continuance  of  civil  war.  In  which  having  (by  the  grace  of  God) 
well  and  happily  succeeded,  and  both  arms  and  hostilities  having 
ceased  within  the  entire  kingdom,  we  hope  for  an  equally  prosperous 
issue  in  what  remains  to  be  settled,  and  that  by  this  means  we  shall 
attain  to  the  establishment  of  a  good  peace  and  tranquil  repose, 
which  has  always  been  the  object  of  our  wishes  and  prayers,  and 
the  reward  that  we  desire  for  so  many  sufferings  and  labors  through 
which  we  have  passed  in  the  course  of  our  life.  Of  the  above-men- 
tioned affairs  for  which  patience  will  be  needed,  and  one  of  the 
principal  has  been  the  complaints  made  by  divers  of  our  provinces 
and  Catholic  cities,  that  the  exercise  of  the  Catholic  religion  was  not 
universally  re-established,  as  ordered  by  the  edicts  hitherto  made  for 
the  pacification  of  troubles  on  account  of  religion.  As  also  the  sup- 
plications and  remonstrances  which  have  been  made  by  our  subjects 
of  the  pretended  reformed  religion,  partly  in  regard  to  the  nonfulfilment 
of  what  had  been  granted  them  by  these  edicts,  and  partly  in  regard  to 
what  they  deemed  should  be  added  thereto,  touching  their  above-men- 
tioned religion,  liberty  of  conscience,  and  the  safety  of  their  persons  and 
property:  presuming  themselves  in  possession  of  just  cause  for  new  and 
yet  greater  apprehensions,  by  reason  of  these  late  troubles  and  move- 
ments, whose  principal  pretext  and  foundation  has  been  their  ruin.  In 
regard  to  which,  that  too  great  a  press  of  matters  might  not  be  laid  on 
us  at  once,  and  also  that  the  rage  of  armies  might  not  interfere  with 
the  establishment  of  the  laws,  such  as  they  were,  we  have  always 
postponed  this  matter.  But  now  that  it  has  pleased  God  to  give  us  a 
beginning  of  quiet  and  repose,  we  esteem  it  the  best  employment 
in  our  power  to  apply  ourselves  to  what  concerns  his  holy  name 
and  service,  and  to  bring  it  about  that  he  should  be  worshipped  and 
adored  by  all  our  subjects  :  and  if  it  has  not  pleased  him  that  there 
sliould  be  one  and  the  same  form  of  religion,  yet  there  should  be  the 
same  intention,  and  under  such  regulations  that  there  should  arise  no 
tumult  or  disturbance  on  account  of  it  among  you  :  and  that  both  we 
and  this  kingdom  may  ever  merit  and  preserve  the  title  of  very  Chris- 
tian, which  has  been  acquired  from  so  long  a  time,  and  by  so  many 
merits:  and  bv  th^  same  means  to  take  away  the  cause  of  evil  and 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  337 

trouble  which  can  befall  the  cause  of  religion,  which  is  ever  the  most 
supple  and  penetrating  of  all.  On  this  occasion,  considering  the  af- 
fair as  one  of  very  great  importance,  and  worthy  of  the  very  gravest 
consideration,  after  receiving  the  complaints  of  our  Catholic  subjects, 
having  also  permitted  our  subjects  of  the  pretended  reformed  religion 
to  assemble  by  deputies  and  draw  up  theirs,  and  to  bring  together 
all  their  remonstrances,  and  having  conferred  with  them  at  divers 
times  in  regard  to  the  matter,  and  having  read  over  the  preceding 
edicts,  we  have  thought  it  necessary,  at  this  time,  to  give  to  all  our 
subjects  a  general  law,  clear,  concise  and  absolute,  by  which  they 
ma}^  govern  themselves  with  regard  to  all  differences  which  have 
hitherto  sprung  up,  or  may  hereafter  ai'ise,  among  them,  and  of  which 
both  may  be  a  subject  of  contention,  as  the  temper  of  the  times  may  be. 
Having,  on  our  part,  entered  on  the  deliberation  only  through  the 
zeal  we  have  for  the  service  of  God,  and  that  it  may  be  offered  and 
rendered  by  all  our  subjects,  and  to  establish  among  them  a  true 
and  lasting  peace.  For  which  we  implore  and  await  from  his  di- 
vine goodness  the  same  protection  and  favor  that  he  has  ever  visibly 
bestowed  on  this  kingdom  from  its  birth,  and  during  the  entire 
period  it  has  passed  through,  and  that  he  may  give  grace  to  our  sub- 
jects to  well  comprehend,  that  in  the  observance  of  this  ordinance 
consists  (next  to  their  duty  to  God  and  their  fellows)  the  principal 
foundation  of  their  union,  concord,  tranquillity  and  repose,  and  of 
the  re-establishment  of  this  whole  State  in  its  first  splendor,  opulence, 
and  strength.  On  our  part,  we  engage  its  strict  observance,  suffering 
no  infringement  thereof.  For  these  reasons,  having,  with  the  advice 
of  the  princes  of  our  blood,  other  princes  and  officers  of  the  crown, 
and  other  great  and  and  notable  personages  of  our  Council  of  State, 
being  near  us,  well  and  diligently  weighed  and  considered  the  en- 
tire affair,  we  have,  by  this  perpetual  and  irrevocable  Edict,  said, 
declared  and  ordered,  do  say,  declare  and  order : 

L  Firstly,  that  the  memory  of  all  past  transactions,  both  on  the 
one  part  and  the  other,  since  the  beginning  of  the  month  of  March, 
1585,  up  to  our  accession  to  the  Crown,  and  during  the  preceding 
troubles,  and  on  account  of  them,  shall  remain  extinct  and  dormant  as 
though  they  had  never  happened.  And  it  shall  not  be  allowed 
or  permitted  to  our  Procureur  Generals,  or  any  other  person  what- 
ever, public  or  private,  at  any  time,  or  on  any  occasion  whatever  to 
make  mention  thereof,  or  institute  a  suit  or  prosecution  in  any  courts 
or  jurisdictions  whatever. 

VOL.   II — 15 


338  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

II.  We  foibid  all  our  subjects,  of  whatever  state  or  quality,  from 
renewing  the  memory,  attacking,  resenting,  injuring  or  provoking  the 
one  the  other  by  reproaches  for  Avhat  has  passed,  under  any  cause  and 
pretext  whatever,  from  disputing,  contesting,  quarrelling,  or  outraging 
or  offending  by  word  or  deed :  but  to  restrain  themselves  and  to  live 
peaceably  together  like  brothers,  friends  and  citizens,  under  pain  of 
being  punished  as  breakers  of  the  peace  and  disturbers  of  public  order. 

III.  We  command  that  the  Catholic  religion,  Apostolic  and  Roman, 
shall  be  reinstated  and  re-established  in  all  places  and  parts  of  this  our 
kingdom,  and  within  the  bounds  of  our  authority,  where  its  exercise 
has  been  intermitted,  that  it  may  be  peaceably  and  freely  exercised 
without  any  disturbance  or  impediment.  Expressly  forbidding  every 
person  of  any  state,  quality  or  condition  whatever,  under  the  above- 
mentioned  penalties,  from  troubling,  disturbing  or  molesting  the  eccle- 
siastics in  the  celebration  of  divine  service,  from  the  enjoyment  and  re- 
ceipt of  the  tithes,  fruits  and  revenues  of  their  benefices,  and  all  other 
rites  and  duties  appertaining  thereto:  and  that  all  those  who,  during 
the  troubles  have  taken  possession  of  churches,  houses,  properties  and 
revenues  belonging  to  said  ecclesiastics,  and  who  still  hold  and  occupy 
them,  shall  give  up  the  entire  possession  and  peaceful  enjoyment  of 
them,  with  such  rights,  liberties,  and  sureties,  as  they  had  before  they 
were  seized.  Forbidding  very  expressly  those  of  the  said  pretended 
reformed  religion  from  preaching  or  any  exercise  of  their  religion  in 
the  churches,  houses  and  habitations  of  the  said  ecclesiastica. 

IV.  The  said  ecclesiastics  may,  if  they  choose,  purchase  the  houses 
and  buildings  raised  on  profane  places,  upon  those  occupied  during  the 
commotions,  or  constrain  the  possessors  of  the  said  buildings  to  pur- 
chase the  ground,  all  according  to  a  valuation  made  by  experts  agreed 
on  by  the  parties.  And  if  the  parties  cannot  agree  on  them,  they 
shall  be  provided  by  local  judges,  provided  the  said  possessors  are  not 
included  therein.  And  if  said  ecclesiastics  constrain  the  holders  to 
purchase  the  ground,  the  sum  agreed  on  shall  not  come  into  their 
hands :  but  the  holders  shall  retain  it  in  their  hands,  drawing  interest 
at  the  rate  of  twenty  per  cent,  till  it  becomes  profitable  to  the  church : 
which  shall  be  deemed  a  year.  And  when  the  said  time  shall  have 
elapsed,  should  the  acquirer  be  unwilling  to  continue  the  said  rent, 
he  shall  be  discharged  therefrom  by  consigning  the  moneys  into  the 
hands  of  a  solvent  person  with  the  consent  of  the  judges.  And  with 
regard  to  the  sacred  places,  the  views  of  the  commissioners  appointed 
by  us  for  the  execution  of  the  present  Edict  shall  be  followed,  as  by 
us  provided. 


AUTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS.  339 

V.  Nevertheless  the  places  aud  sites  occupied  for  repairs  and 
fortifications  of  our  cities  aud  places  of  our  kingdom,  and  the  materi- 
als used  therein,  shall  not  be  taken  possession  of  or  sold  by  the  eccle- 
siastics or  other  persons,  either  public  or  private,  unless  the  said  re- 
pairs and  fortifications  shall  be  demolished  by  our  ordinances. 

VI.  And  that  all  occasion  of  troubles  and  differences  among  our 
subjects  may  be  taken  away,  we  have  and  do  permit  persons  of  the 
pretended  reformed  religion  to  live  and  remain  in  all  the  cities  and 
l»laces  of  this  our  kingdom,  and  countries  under  our  authority,  without 
being  questioned,  vexed  or  molested,  or  constrained  to  do  any  thing 
with  regard  to  religion  contrary  to  their  conscience,  nor  on  account 
of  it  shall  they  be  searched  for  in  their  houses  and  places  where  thoy 
desire  to  dwell,  provided  they  comport  themselves  in  accordance  witli 
the  provisions  of  our  present  edict. 

VII.  We  have  also  given  permission  to  all  seigneurs,  gentlemen, 
and  other  persons,  denizens  or  otherwise,  making  a  profession  of  the 
pretended  reformed  religion,  holding  within  our  kingdom  and 
country,  under  our  authority,  high  judicial  office,  or  a  full  fief  of 
knighthood  (as  in  Normandy)  whether  as  property  or  usufruct,  in 
whole  or  in  part,  or  even  a  third  part,  to  have,  in  such  of  their  houses 
of  the  said  high  justices,  or  said  knights,  as  they  shall  hold  themselves 
ready  to  name  to  our  bailiffs  or  seneschals,  each  in  his  own  right,  as 
his  chief  place  of  residence,  the  exercise  of  the  said  religion,  as  long 
as  they  reside  therein:  and  in  their  absence,  their  wives,  their 
family,  or  a  part  of  it;  and  if  the  title  of  either  justice  or  knight 
shall  be  questioned,  still  the  worship  of  said  religion  shall  be  allowed, 
provided  the  above-mentioned  persons  have  actual  possession  of  said 
offices,  until  our  Procureur  General  can  attend  to  the  matter.  We 
also  permit  the  said  worship  to  be  held  in  other  houses  belonging  to 
those  high  functionaries,  or  knights,  in  the  presence,  and  not  other- 
wise, of  their  domestics,  their  family,  and  subjects. 

VIII.  In  the  houses  of  tenants,  or  persons  of  the  said  religion  who 
are  not  high  functionaries  or  knights,  there  can  be  said  worship  for 
their  families  alone.  However,  this  is  not  to  be  understood  as  al- 
lowing a  search  in  cases  where  other  persons,  to  the  number  of  thirty, 
chance  to  arrive,  or  friends  come  to  visit  them:  provided,  also,  that 
said  houses  are  not  within  cities,  towns,  or  villages  belonging  to  high 
Catholic  lords,  other  than  ourselves,  in  which  said  Catholic  lords 
have  houses  ;  in  which  case,  those  of  the  said  religion  cannot,  in  said 
cities,  towns,  or  villages,  have  religious  services,  unless  by  permission 
and  consent  of  the  said  Catholic  lords,  and  not  otherwise. 


340  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

IX.  We  also  permit  members  of  the  said  religion  to  do  and  con^ 
tinue  the  exercise  of  it  in  all  villages  and  places  under  our  autliority 
■where  it  has  been  established  by  them,  and  publicly  performed  at 
several  and  divers  times  in  the  year  one  thousand  five  hundred  and 
eighty-six,  and  in  the  year  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  eighty- 
seven,  until  the  end  of  the  month  of  August,  all  decrees  and  judg- 
ments to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

X.  Likewise  the  said  worship  shall  be  established  and  re-estab- 
lished in  all  villages  and  places  where  it  has  been  introduced,  or 
ought  to  be,  by  the  Edict  of  Pacification,  made  in  the  year  1577,  by 
the  private  articles  and  conferences  of  Nerac  and  Fleix,  without  which 
the  said  establishment  might  be  prevented  in  the  places  and  situa- 
tions mentioned  in  that  edict,  the  articles,  and  conferences,  as  places 
for  bailiwicks,  or  which  had  been  hitherto,  though  they  have  been 
alienated  to  Catholic  persons,  or  shall  be  hereafter.  It  is  not  to  be 
understood,  however,  that  the  said  worship  may  be  re-establislied  in 
places  and  situations  of  the  said  domain,  which  have  been  heretofore 
possessed  by  persons  of  the  pretended  reformed  religion,  in  which  it 
might  have  been  allowed  for  personal  considerations,  or  on  account 
of  feudal  privileges,  if  the  said  fiefs  are  at  present  in  the  possession 
of  persons  of  the  Catholic,  Apostolic,  and  Eoman  religion. 

XL  Besides  in  each  of  the  ancient  bailiwicks,  seueschalships,  and 
governments  holding  the  place  of  bailiwicks,  being  plainly  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  courts  of  parliament,  we  order  that  in  the  suburbs 
of  a  city,  excepting  those  which  have  been  granted  b}^  the  said  edict 
to  them,  as  also  by  special  articles  and  conferences,  and  where  there  are 
no  cities,  in  a  burgh  or  village,  the  exercise  of  the  pretended  reform- 
ed religion  shall  be  made  publicly  by  all  those  who  may  ^vish  to  go 
there,  although  in  the  said  bailiwicks,  seueschalships,  and  govern- 
ments there  may  be  several  places  in  which  the  said  exercise  may  be 
at  present  established,  save  and  excepting  for  the  said  places  of  baili- 
wicks newly  granted  by  the  present  edict,  the  cities  in  which  there  is 
an  archbishop  or  bishop,  although  the  members  of  the  said  pretended 
reformed  religion  have  the  power  to  ask  for  and  name,  for  the  said 
place  of  their  worship,  the  boroughs  and  villages  in  the  neighborhood 
of  those  cities,  excepting  also  the  places  and  seigneurships  belonging 
to  ecclesiastics,  in  the  which  we  must  not  be  understood  as  allowing 
the  said  second  place  of  the  bailiwick,  these  being  excepted  and  re- 
sei'ved  by  special  favor.  We  mean  and  understand  by  the  name  of 
ancient  bailiwicks,  to  speak  of  those  which  in  the  time  of  the  late  King 
Henry,  our  very  honored  lord  and  father-in-law,  were  held  for  baili- 


AUTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS. 


341 


wicks,  seneschalships,  and  governments,  being  clearly  under  the  juris 
diction  of  our  courts. 

XII.  The  present  edict  must  not  be  understood  as  doing  away 
aught  of  the  edicts  and  agreements  heretofore  made  for  the  reduction 
of  any  princes,  lords,  gentlemen,  and  Catholic  cities  in  our  authority, 
as  it  respects  the  exercise  of  the  sai^  religion,  which  edicts  and  agree- 
ments shall  be  held  and  observed  as  it  regards  this  matter,  as  it  shall 
be  determined  by  the  instructions  of  the  commissioners,  who  shall  be 
appointed  for  the  execution  of  the  present  edict. 

XIII.  All  persons  of  the  said  religion  are  very  expressly  forbidden 
from  making  any  exercise  of  it,  either  of  ministry,  regulation,  disci- 
pline, or  public  instruction  of  children,  and  other  matters  in  this  our 
kingdom,  and  in  countries  under  our  authority,  in  what  concerns  re- 
ligion, except  in  those  places  permitted  and  allowed  in  the  present  edict. 

XIV.  Also  from  performing  any  exercise  of  said  religion  in  our 
court  and  suite,  and  also  in  our  lands  and  countries  which  are  beyond 
the  mountains,  and  also  in  our  city  of  Paris,  or  within  five  leagues 
of  said  city ;  although  the  members  of  said  religion,  dwelling  in  said 
lands  and  countries  beyond  the  mountains,  and  in  our  said  cit}^  and 
within  five  leagues  around  it,  shall  not  have  their  houses  searched,  nor 
be  compelled  to  do  any  thing  in  regard  to  their  religion  contrary  to 
their  conscience,  provided  they  comport  themselves  as  it  is  com- 
manded in  the  present  edict. 

XV.  Nor  shall  a  public  exercise  of  said  religion  be  allowed  among 
the  armies,  except  at  the  quarters  of  Tiie  chiefs  who  make  a  profes- 
sion thereof,  excepting  the  quarter  which  shall  contain  our  person. 

XVI.  By  the  twelfth  article  of  the  Conference  of  Nerac,  permis- 
sion was  given  to  those  holding  said  religion  to  build  places  for  the 
exercise  of  it  in  such  villages  and  places  as  might  be  agreed  on,  and 
those  shall  be  restored  to  them  that  they  have  hitherto  built,  or  the 
site  of  them,  in  such  sta' e  as  they  may  be  in  at  present,  even  in  those 
places  where  the  exercide  of  their  worship  is  not  allowed,  except 
they  have  been  changed  into  other  kinds  of  edifices,  in  which  case 
there  shall  be  given  to  them,  by  the  possessors  of  said  edifices,  places 
and  situations  of  the  same  value  and  price  which  they  had  before 
they  were  built  on,  or  the  proper  value  of  them,  to  be  determined  by 
experts :  provided  the  proprietors  and  possessors  whom  the  matter 
concerns,  are  not  of  it. 

XVII.  "We  forbid  all  preachers,  readers,  and  others  who  speak  in 
public,  from  using  any  word,  discourse,  and  terms  tending  to  excite 
the  people  to  sedition;  but  we  have  enjoined,  and  do  enjoin,  them  to 


342  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

a  retiring  and  modest  carriage,  and  to  do  notliing  which  is  not  calculated 
for  the  edification  and  instruction  of  their  auditors,  and  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  repose  and  tranquillity  by  us  established  in  this  our  king- 
dom, under  pain  of  the  penalties  mentioned  in  preceding  edicts.  En- 
joining very  expressly  our  prosecuting  officers  and  their  deputies  to 
inform  against  those  who  contravene  them,  under  pain  of  answering 
in  their  own  persons,  and  by  privation  of  their  offices. 

XVIII.  We  forbid  all  our  subjects,  of  whatever  quality  or  condi 
tion  soever,  from  bearing  away  by  force  or  stratagem,  against  the 
consent  of  their  parents,  children  of  the  said  religion,  in  order  to  have 
them  baptized  or  confirmed  in  the  Church  Catholic,  Apostolic,  and 
Roman.  The  members  of  the  said  pretended  reformed  religion  are 
under  the  same  j^rohibition,  under  pain  of  being  severely  punished. 

XIX.  Persons  belonging  to  the  said  pretended  reformed  religion 
shall  be  in  no  manner  constrained,  or  considered  bound  by  reason  of 
abjurations,  promises,  and  oaths  that  they  have  hitherto  made,  or 
sureties  by  them  given,  in  regard  to  said  religion,  and  shall  not  be 
molested  or  disturbed  on  account  thereof,  in  any  manner  whatsoever. 

XX.  They  shall  be  bound  to  guard  and  observe  the  festivals  in 
use  in  the  Church  Catholic,  Apostolic  and  Roman,  and  shall  not  on 
such  days  labor,  sell,  or  display  for  sale,  in  open  shops,  nor  in  like 
manner  shall  artisans  labor  without  their  shops,  and  in  chambers  and 
closed  houses,  on  the  said  festival  days,  and  other  days  forbidden,  at  any 
trade,  the  noise  of  which  can  be  heard  by  passers-by  or  neighbors ; 
nevertheless,  no  search  shall  be  made,  except  by  the  officers  of  justice. 

XXI.  Books  concerning  the  said  pretended  reformed  religion  shall 
be  printed  and  sold  publicly  onl^^  in  the  cities  and  places  where  the 
public  exercise  of  said  religion  is  permitted ;  and  as  it  respects  other 
books,  which  shall  be  printed  in  other  cities  seen  and  visited,  whether 
by  our  officers  or  theologians,  as  it  is  commanded  by  our  ordinances. 
We  very  expressly  forbid  the  expression,  publication,  and  sale  of  all 
books,  libels,  and  defamatory  writings,  under  the  penalties  contained 
in  our  ordinances,  enjoining  all  our  judges  and  officers  to  see  to  its 
execution. 

XXII.  We  order  that  there  shall  be  no  difi"erence  or  distinction 
made  with  regard  to  said  religion,  in  receiving  scholars  to  be  in- 
structed in  the  universities,  colleges  and  schools,  as  well  as  the  sick 
and  poor  in  the  hospitals,  lazarettos,  and  charitable  institutions. 

XXIII.  Those  belonging  to  the  pretended  reformed  religion  shall 
be  bound  to  respect  the  laws  of  the  Catholic  Church,  Apostolic  and 
Roman,  received  in  this  our  kingdom,   in  regard  to  marriages  con- 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  343 

tracted,  and  to  be  contracted,  within  the  degrees  of  consanguinity 
and  affinity. 

XXIV.  In  like  manner  the  members  of  the  said  religion  shall  pay 
the  entrance  fees,  as  is  the  custom,  for  the  employments  and  offices 
with  which  they  are  provided,  without  being  constrained  to  assist  at 
any  ceremonies  contrary  to  their  religion ;  and  when  about  to  be 
sworn,  shall  be  bound  only  to  raise  the  hand,  swear,  and  promise  to 
God  to  tell  the  truth ;  and  may  also  dispense  with  the  oath  by  them 
to  be  taken  in  passing  contracts  and  obligations. 

XXV.  We  will  and  order  that  all  members  of  the  said  religion, 
pretendedly  reformed,  and  others  who  have  followed  their  party,  of 
whatever  state,  quality,  or  condition  they  may  be,  shall  be  bound 
and  holden  by  all  reasonable  dues ;  and  under  the  penalties  contained 
in  the  edicts  on  these  matters,  to  pay  and  discharge  tithes  to  the 
curates  and  other  ecclesiastics,  and  to  all  others  to  whom  they  may 
belong,  according  to  local  usage  and  custom. 

XXVI.  Xo  one  of  our  subjects  shall  be  disinherited  or  deprived 
of  his  propert}^,  either  in  the  past  or  future,  by  will  or  otherwise, 
made  only  from  hatred,  or  on  account  of  religion. 

XXVIL  In  fine,  that  we  may  as  far  as  possible  reunite  our  subjects 
in  friendly  feelings,  as  is  our  wish,  and  to  take  away  all  complaints  in 
future,  we  declare  all  those  who  have  made,  or  shall  make,  a  profession 
of  the  said  pi-etended  reformed  religion,  capable  of  holding  and  exer- 
cising all  employments,  dignities,  offices,  and  public  employments  of 
whatever  kind,  royal,  seigneurial,  in  either  of  the  cities,  or  of  this 
our  kingdom,  countries,  lands,  and  manors  under  our  authority,  not- 
withstanding all  oaths  to  the  contrary ;  and  our  courts  of  parliament 
and  other  judges  shall  learn  and  inquire  of  the  life,  manners,  and  re- 
ligion and  chaste  conversation  of  those  who  are  or  shall  be  candidates 
for  office,  as  well  of  one  religion  as  the  other,  taking  of  them  no  oath 
except  to  well  and  faithfully  serve  the  King,  in  the  exercise  of  their 
employments,  and  to  see  that  the  ordinances  are  observed,  as  it  has 
been  done  from  all  time.  In  regard  to  vacancies  in  these  situations, 
employments,  and  offices,  as  it  regards  those  who  shall  fill  them,  this 
shall  be  done  indifferently,  and  without  distinction,  from  capable  per- 
sons, as  a  matter  that  regards  the  union  of  our  subjects.  Let  it  also 
be  understood  that  members  of  the  pretended  reformed  religion  are 
to  be  admitted  and  received  to  all  councils,  deliberations,  assemblies, 
and  functions,  which  depend  on  the  above-mentioned  things,  and  not 
to  be  rejected  on  account  of  their  religion,  or  prevented  from  enjoy- 
ing them. 


344  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

XXA'III.  We  order,  in  regard  to  the  interment  of  the  dead  of  per- 
sons of  the  said  religion,  for  all  the  cities  and  places  of  this  kingdom^ 
that  there  be  promptly  provided  in  each  place,  by  our  officers  and 
magistrates,  and  by  the  commissionei's  we  shall  appoint  for  the  execu- 
tion of  the  present  edict,  a  place  as  commodious  as  possible  ;  and  the 
cemeteries  luthei'to  held  by  them,  and  of  which  the}'  have  been  de- 
prived by  the  troubles,  shall  be  returned  to  them  ;  but  if  they  should 
be  found  to  be  occupied,  at  the  present  time,  by  edifices  and  build 
logs  of  whatever  sort,  they  shall  be  provided  with  others  gratuitously 
in  their  place. 

XXIX.  We  expressly  command  our  officers  to  see  to  it^  that  at 
the  said  interments  no  scandal  be  committed;  and  they  shall  be 
bound,  within  five  days  after  a  requisition  shall  have  been  made,  to 
provide  the  members  of  said  religion  a  place  proper  for  said  burial, 
without  any  delays,  under  penalty  of  a  fine  of  five  hundred  crowns  : 
and  the  said  officers,  as  well  as  all  others,  are  forbidden  to  take  any 
thing  for  services  to  these  dead  bodies,  under  penalty  of  being  pun- 
ished for  extortion. 

XXX.  In  fine,  that  justice  may  be  rendered  and  administered  to 
our  subjects,  without  any  suspicion,  hatred  or  favor,  as  being  one  of 
the  principal  means  of  preserving  peace  and  concord,  we  have  or- 
dered and  do  order,  that  in  our  court  of  parliament  of  Paris  shall  be 
established  a  chamber,  composed  of  a  president  and  sixteen  council- 
lors of  said  parliament,  which  shall  be  called  and  entitled  the  Cham- 
ber of  the  Edict,  and  shall  have  cognizance  not  only  of  causes  and 
suits  of  persons  of  the  pretended  reformed  religion,  who  shall  be 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  said  court ;  but  also  of  suits  from  our  par- 
liaments of  Normandy  and  Brittany,  according  to  the  jurisdiction 
which  shall  be  given  to  them  by  this  edict,^  and  just  as  far  as  in  each 
of  the  said  parliaments,  have  been  established  a  chamber  to  render 
justice  in  those  places.  We  order,  also,,  that  of  the  four  offices  of  coun- 
cillors in  our  said  parliament,  remaining  from  the  last  erection  made 
by  us,  there  shall  be  chosen  and  received  to  this  parliament  four 
persons  of  this  pretended  reformed  religion,  sufficient  and  capable 
men,  who  shall  be  distributed  thus  :  the  first  to  the  Chamber  of  Edict, 
and  the  other  three,  as  they  shall  be  selected,  to  three  of  the  Cham- 
bers of  Inquest.  And  beside,  the  two  first  offices  of  councillors  of 
said  court,  which  shall  become  vacant  by  death,  shall  be  filled  by 
two  persons  of  the  said  religion ;  and  these  shall  be  distributed 
among  the  other  two  Chambers  of  Inquests. 

XXXI.  Beside  the  chamber  heretofore  established  at  Castres,  for 


AUTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS.  345 

the  jurisdiction  of  om*  court  of  parliament  of  Toulouse,  which  shall 
be  continued  in  the  state  in  which  it  now  is,  we  have,  from  the  same 
considerations, ordered  and  do  order,  that  in  each  of  our  courts  of  parlia- 
ment of  Grenoble  and  Bourdeaux  shall  be  likewise  established  a  cham- 
ber, composed  of  two  presidents,  the  one  a  Catholic,  and  the  other  of 
the  pretended  reformed  religion,  and  of  twelve  councillors,  of  which 
six  shall  be  Catholic,  and  the  other  six  of  the  said  religion ;  whose 
Catholic  presidents  and  councillors  shall  be  by  us  chosen  and  taken 
from  the  bodies  of  the  said  courts.  And,  as  to  those  of  the  said  re- 
ligion, there  shall  be  a  new  creation  of  a  president  and  six  councillors 
for  the  parliament  of  Bourdeaux,  and  of  a  president  and  three  coun- 
cillors for  that  of  Grenoble,  which,  with  the  three  councillors  of  said 
religion,  who  are  at  present  in  said  parliament,  shall  be  employed  in 
the  said  Chamber  of  Dauphiny.  And  the  said  offices  of  new  creation 
shall  be  entitled  to  the  same  salary,  honors,  authorities  and  pre- 
eminences as  others  of  the  said  courts.  And  the  said  sitting  of  the  said 
court  of  Bourdeaux  shall  be  at  the  said  Bourdeaux,  or  at  Xerac  ;  and 
that  of  Dauphiny,  at  Grenoble. 

XXXII.  The  said  Chamber  of  Dauphinj^  shall  have  cognizance  of  the 
suits  of  members  of  the  said  pretended  reformed  religion,  within  the 
jurisdictionof  our  parliament  of  Provence,  without  the  necessity  of  tak- 
ing letters  of  appeal,  nor  other  provisions,  except  in  our  chancery  of 
Dauphiny.  So,  also,  persons  of  that  religion  in  Xormandy  and  Brit- 
tany shall  not  be  compelled  to  take  out  letters  of  appeal,  nor  other 
provisions,  except  in  our  chancery  of  Paris. 

XXXIII.  Our  subjects  of  the  same  religion  in  the  parliament  of 
Bourgogne  shall  have  the  choice  and  option  to  plead  in  the  cham- 
ber ordered  at  Paris,  or  in  this  of  Dauphiny.  And  shall  not  be 
bound  to  take  letters  of  appeal,  nor  other  provisions  than  from  the 
chanceries  of  Paris  and  Dauphiny,  according  to  the  choice  they  make. 

XXXIV.  All  of  the  said  chambers,  composed  as  above,  shall  have 
jurisdiction,  and  give  final  judgment  by  decree,  privately  from  all 
others,  of  suits  begun  and  to  be  begun,  in  which  persons  of  the  said 
pretended  reformed  religion  shall  be  principal  parties  or  securities, 
whether  plaintiff  or  defendant,  in  all  matters  civil  or  criminal, 
whether  the  said  jDrocess  be  by  writing  or  verbal  summons.  And 
this,  if  it  seem  good  to  the  said  parties,  and  one  of  them  shall  require 
it  before  joining  suit,  as  it  regards  causes  j^et  to  be  commenced  :  ex- 
cepting, however,  all  matters  respecting  benefices  and  the  possession 
of  tithes  not  in  fee,  ecclesiastical  advowsons,  and  suits  which  concern 
the  rights  and  duties  of  the  domain  of  the  Church,  which  shall  all 

TOL.   II. — 15* 


346  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

• 
be  treated  and  judged  of  in  courts  of  parliament,  so  that  the  said 
Chambers  of  Edict  shall  not  hare  jurisdiction.  So,  also,  we  desire, 
as  it  regards  the  judging  and  deciding  criminal  suits  arising  between 
the  said  ecclesiastics  and  persons  of  the  said  pretended  reformed  re- 
ligion, if  the  ecclesiastic  be  the  defendant,  in  that  case  the  jurisdiction 
and  judgment  shall  belong  to  our  sovereign  courts,  in  private  at  the 
said  chambers;  but  if  the  ecclesiastic  be  plaintiff,  and  the  defendant 
be  of  the  said  religion,  the  jurisdiction  and  judgment  shall  belong  by 
appeal ;  and,  as  a  last  resort,  to  the  said  established  chambers.  Re- 
cognizing, also,  the  said  chambers  in  times  of  vacation,  as  to  matters 
belonging  to  them  by  the  edicts  and  ordinances  of  chambers  estab- 
lished in   times  of  vacation,  each  in  its  own  sphere. 

XXXV.  The  said  chamber  of  Grenoble  shall  be,  as  at  present, 
united  and  incorporated  with  the  body  of  the  said  court  of  parlia- 
ment, and  the  presidents  and  councillors  of  the  said  pretended  re- 
formed religion  shall  be  named  presidents  and  councillors  of  the  said 
court,  and  entitled  to  the  same  rank  and  number ;  and,  for  these 
ends,  they  shall  at  first  be  distributed  among  the  other  chambers, 
then  selected  and  drawn  from  them,  to  be  employed  and  used  in 
those  that  we  order  anew,  with  this  understanding,  however,  that 
they  shall  sit  with,  and  have  a  voice  in,  all  the  deliberations  which 
the  assembled  chambers  shall  make,  shall  receive  the  same  salary, 
authority,  and  pre-eminences,  as  the  other  presidents  and  councillors 
of  the  said  court. 

XXXVJ.  "We  will  and  intend  that  the  said  Chambers  of  Castres 
and  Bourdeaux  shall  be  reunited  and  incorporated  with  parliaments 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  others,  when  it  shall  be  necessary,  and 
that  the  suits  which  have  been  instituted  before  its  establishment 
shall  cease,  and  have  no  place  among  our  subjects ;  to  these  ends, 
the  presidents  and  councillors  of  them,  of  the  said  religion,  shall  be 
nominated  for  presidents  and  councillors  of  said  courts. 

XXXVII.  There  shall  also  be  created  and  erected  anew,  in  the 
chamber  ordered  for  the  parliament  of  Bourdeaux,  two  substitutes  for 
our  procureur  and  advocate-general,  of  which  the  substitute  for  pro- 
cureur  shall  be  a  Catholic,  and  the  other  of  the  said  religion,  who 
shall  be  appointed  to  said  offices  at  ready  salaries. 

XXXVIII.  Xor  shall  the  said  substitutes  have  any  other  duties 
than  as  substitutes ;  and  when  the  chambers  ordered  for  the  parlia- 
ments of  Thoulouse  and  Bourdeaux  shall  be  united  and  incorporated 
with  the  said  parliaments,  the  said  substitutes  shall  be  appointed  tc 
the  offices  of  councillors  in  them. 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  347 

XXXIX.  Duplicates  of  the  Chancery  of  Bourdeaux  shall  be  made 
in  the  presence  of  two  councillors  of  this  chamber,  the  one  being  a 
Catholic,  and  the  other  of  the  said  pretended  reformed  religion,  in  the 
absence  of  one  of  the  masters  of  inquests  of  our  palace ;  and  one  of  the 
notaries  and  secretaries  of  the  said  court  of  parliament  of  Bourdeaux 
shall  make  his  residence  at  the  place  where  the  said  chamber  shall 
be  established,  or  one  of  the  ordinary  secretaries  of  the  chancery,  to 
sign  the  duplicates  of  the  said  chancery. 

XL.  We  will  and  order  that  in  the  said  chamber  of  Bourdeaux, 
there  shall  be  two  registry  clerks  to  the  said  parliament,  the  one  for 
civil,  and  the  other  for  ci-iminal  suits,  who  shall  exercise  those  offices 
by  commissions  from  us,  and  shall  be  called  clerks  of  the  civil  and 
criminal  registry,  and  yet  they  shall  not  be  deprived  of  office  by  the 
said  registers  of  parliament :  however,  they  shall  be  bound  to  render 
the  emoluments  of  the  said  registries  to  the  said  registers,  whose 
clerks  shall  be  paid  by  the  said  registers,  as  it  shall  be  determined  and 
agreed  on  by  the  said  chamber.  Besides  these,  shall  be  appointed 
Catholic  ushers,  who  shall  be  taken  from  said  court,  or  elsewhere,  ac- 
cording to  our  good  pleasure,  besides  whom  there  shall  be  appointed, 
for  the  first  time,  two  also  of  the  said  religion,  and  appointed  gratui- 
tously ;  and  all  the  said  ushers  shall  be  regulated  by  the  said  cham- 
ber, as  well  in  regard  to  the  exercise  and  deportment  of  their  office, 
as  the  emoluments  they  ought  to  derive  from  it.  A  commission  shall 
also  be  expedited  for  paying  the  salaries  and  receiving  the  penalties 
of  said  chamber,  to  be  appointed  in  such  manner  as  shall  please  us, 
if  the  said  chamber  is  established  elsewhere  than  in  said  city;  and 
the  commission  heretofore  accorded  for  paying  the  salaries  of  the 
chamber  of  Castres,  shall  take  full  and  complete  effect,  and  shall  be 
joined  to  the  said  commission  for  the  receipt  of  penalties  for  the  said 
chamber. 

XLI.  Good  and  sufficient  assignations  shall  be  provided  for  the 
salaries  of  the  officers  of  the  chamber  ordered  by  this  edict. 

XLII.  The  presidents,  councillors,  and  other  Catholic  officers  of 
the  said  chamber  shall  continue  as  long  as  possible,  and  as  we  shall  see 
useful  for  our  service,  and  for  the  good  of  our  subjects ;  and  if  some 
of  them  are  to  be  released,  others  shall  be  provided  in  their  places 
bofore  their  departure,  so  that  they  shall  not,  during  the  time  of  their 
service,  depart  or  absent  themselves  from  the  said  chambers,  without 
the  permission  of  those  who  shall  judge  on  the  causes  of  the  ordi- 
nance. 

XLIII.  The  said  chambers  shall  be  established  within  six  months, 


348  F  ENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

during  which  (if  such  establishment  remains  to  be  made)  suits  beguc^ 
and  to  be  begun,  to  which  persons  of  the  said  religion  are  parties,  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  our  parliaments  of  Paris,  Rouen,  Dijon,  and  Rennes, 
shall  be  heard  in  the  chamber  established  at  Paris,  in  virtue  of  the  edict 
of  ISYY,  or  at  a  grand  council,  at  the  choice  and  option  of  persons  of 
the  said  religion,  if  thej  require  it ;  those  of  the  parliament  of  Bour- 
deaux  in  the  court  established  at  Castres,  or  at  the  grand  council,  at 
their  choice,  and  those  who  shall  be  of  Provence,  at  the  parliament 
of  Grenoble ;  and  if  the  said  courts  are  not  established  within  three 
months  after  the  presentation  of  our  edict,  such  of  our  parliaments  as 
shall  have  refused  so  to  do,  shall  be  interdicted  from  having  jurisdic 
tion  and  judging  causes  of  persons  of  said  religion. 

XLIV.  Suits  not  yet  decided,  pending  in  the  said  courts  of  par- 
liament and  grand  councils,  of  the  quality  aforesaid,  shall  be  returned 
in  whatever  state  they  may  be  to  the  said  chambers,  each  in  its  own 
jurisdiction,  if  one  of  the  parties  of  the  said  religion  require  it,  within 
four  months  after  the  establishment  of  said  courts;  and  as  to  those 
which  shall  be  discontinued,  and  not  in  a  state  to  be  judged,  the  said 
persons  of  the  said  religion  shall  be  bound  to  make  a  declaration  at 
the  first  intimation  and  signification  which  shall  be  made  to  them  of 
a  prosecution,  and  the  said  time  being  passed,  they  shall  not  be  re- 
quired to  be  sent  back. 

XLV,  The  said  chambers  of  Grenoble  and  Bourdoaux,  as  well  as 
that  of  Castres,  shall  follow  the  forms  and  style  of  the  parliaments, 
within  whose  jurisdiction  they  shall  be  established,  and  shall  sit  in 
equal  numbers  of  either  religion,  if  the  parties  do  not  consent  to  the 
contrary. 

XLVI.  All  the  judges  to  whose  address  shall  be  sent  executions 
of  arrest,  commissions  of  said  chambers,  and  letters  obtained  in  the 
chanceries,  with  all  doorkeepers  and  sergeants,  are  bound  to  see  to  their 
execution,  and  the  said  doorkeepers  and  sergeants  shall  serve  their 
summons  in  all  parts  of  our  kingdom,  without  petition  or  writ  of 
chancery,  under  penalty  of  suspension  from  office,  and  of  charges, 
damages,  and  interest  of  the  parties  where  cognizance  belongs  to  the 
said  parties. 

XLVII.  Xo  appeal  shall  be  allowed  wliere  ca^nizanee  is  given  to 
said  courts,  except  in  the  case  of  ordinances,  whose  return  shall  be 
made  to  the  nearest  court  established  by  our  edict,  and  the  distribu- 
tions of  suits  of  said  courts  shall  be  judged  in  the  nearest,  observing 
the  proportion  and  forms  of  said  chambers,  whose  suits  shall  be  pro- 
ceeded in  course  of  law,  excepting  the  court  of  edict  to  our  parlia- 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  349 

ment  of  Paris,  where  the  suits  shall  be  distributed  in  the  same  cham- 
ber  by  judges,  who  shall  be  named  by  our  special  letters,  for  that 
purpose,  if  the  parties  prefer  to  wait  the  reorganization  of  such  cham- 
ber, and  provided  the  same  suit  shall  be  a  party  in  all  the  mixed 
chambers,  the  distribution  shall  be  returned  to  the  said  court  of 
Paris. 

XLYIII.  The  challenges  which  shall  be  made  against  the  presi- 
dents and  councillors  of  the  mixed  courts  shall  be  limited  to  the 
number  of  six,  to  which  number  the  parties  shall  be  limited,  other- 
wise no  regard  shall  be  made  to  these  challenges. 

XLIX.  The  examination  of  presidents  and  councillors  lately  insti- 
tuted for  said  mixed  courts,  shall  be  made  in  our  privy  council,  or  by 
the  said  courts,  each  in  its  own  right,  when  they  shall  amount  to  a 
sufficient  number;  nevertheless  the  usual  oath  shall  be  taken  by  them 
in  the  courts  where  the  said  chambers  shall  be  established,  and  on 
their  refusal,  in  our  privy  council,  excepting  the  members  of  the 
Chamber  of  Languedoc,  who  shall  take  the  oath  from  the  hands  of  our 
chancellor,  or  in  his  chamber. 

L.  We  WMsh  and  order  that  the  reception  of  our  officers  of  the 
said  reUgion  should  be  judged  in  the  said  mixed  courts  by  plurality 
of  voices,  as  is  usual  in  other  judgments,  so  that  there  may  be  no  ne- 
cessity that  the  opinions  should  surpass  two  thirds,  according  to  the 
ordinance,  which  as  it  regards  the  matter  is  abrogated. 

LI.  There  shall  be  made  at  the  said  mixed  courts  propositions,  de- 
liberations^ and  resolutions,  which  appertain  to  the  public  quiet  and 
the  particular  state  and  police  of  the  cities  in  which  the  said  courts 
shall  be. 

LIT.  The  article  of  jurisdiction  of  the  said  courts  ordered  by  the 
present  edict  shall  be  followed  and  observed,  according  to  its  form  and 
term,  even  in  what  concerns  the  execution,  or  want  of  execution,  or 
mfraction  of  our  edicts,  when  those  of  the  said  religion  shall  be  parties. 
LIII.  The  subaltern  officers,  royal  or  otherwise,  whose  admittance 
appertains  to  our  courts  of  parliament,  if  they  are  of  the  said  religion 
pretendedly  reformed,  shall  be  examined  and  received  in  such 
courts,  viz.:  Those  in  the  jurisdiction  of  the  parliaments  of  Paris, 
Normandy,  and  Brittany,  in  the  said  Chamber  of  Paris ;  those  of 
Dauphiny  and  Provence,  in  the  Chamber  of  Grenoble ;  those  of  Bur- 
gundy, in  the  said  Chamber  of  Paris,  or  of  Dauphiny,  at  their  choice ; 
those  in  the  jurisdiction  of  Toulouse,  in  tlie  Chamber  of  Castres ;  and 
those  of  the  parliament  of  Bourdeaux,  in  the  ChamV)er  of  Guyeime ; 
but  the  others  shall  not  oppose  their  admittance  and  right  to  render 


350  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

judgment,  as  our  procureur-generals,  and  their  deputies.  However, 
the  usual  oath  shall  be  by  them  taken  in  the  courts  of  parliament, 
which  shall  have  no  cognizance  of  their  said  admittance  ;  and,  on 
the  refusal  of  the  said  parliaments,  the  said  officers  shall  take  the 
oath  in  the  said  chambers ;  which  being  taken,  they  shall  be  bound 
to  present  by  a  bailiff  or  notary  the  act  of  their  admittance  to  the 
registers  of  the  said  courts  of  parliament,  and  to  leave  a  collated 
copy  with  the  said  registers :  on  whom  it  is  enjoined  to  register  said 
acts,  under  pain  of  being  liable  for  all  charges,  damages  and  interests 
of  the  suits,  and,  in  ease  the  said  register  shall  refuse  to  do  so,  it 
shall  suffice  for  said  officei's  to  report  the  act  of  the  said  summation, 
sent  by  said  bailiffs  or  notaries,  and  the  same  shall  be  registered  in 
the  registuy  of  their  said  jurisdictions,  that  recourse  may  be  had  to  it, 
if  need  be,  under  penalty  of  nullifying  their  procedures  and  judgments. 
And,  as  it  respects  the  officers  whose  reception  is  usually  made  in 
our  said  parliaments,  in  case  that  those  to  whom  it  belongs  shall  re- 
fuse to  proceed  to  such  examination  and  reception,  the  said  officers 
shall  withdraw  from  said  chambers,  to  be  provided  for  as  it  shall 
seem  proper. 

LIV.  The  officers  of  the  said  pretended  reformed  religion  who 
shall  be  admitted  as  above,  to  serve  in  the  bodies  of  our  said  courts 
of  parliaments,  grand  council,  chambers  of  accounts,  courts  of  aids, 
departments  of  the  treasury,  and  other  officers  of  finance,  shall  be 
received  and  examined  in  such  places  as  is  usual ;  and,  in  case 
of  refusal  or  denial  of  justice,  shall  be  admitted  in  our  private 
council. 

LA^.  The  reception  of  our  officers,  made  in  the  chamber  hereto- 
fore established  at  Castres,  shall  be  deemed  valid,  notwithstanding 
all  decrees  and  ordinances  to  the  contrary.  Also  shall  be  valid  the 
receptions  of  judges,  councillors,  assessors  of  subsidies,  and  other 
officers  of  the  said  religion,  made  in  our  private  council,  or  by  com- 
missions by  us,  ordered  through  the  refusal  of  our  courts  of  parlia- 
ment, courts  of  aids,  and  chamber  of  accounts,  as  if  they  had  been 
made  in  such  courts  and  chambers,  and  by  the  other  judges  to  whom 
the  reception  belonged.  And  their  salaries  shall  be  allowed  by  the 
chamber  of  accounts,  without  question :  and,  if  any  have  been  erased, 
they  shall  be  reinstated  without  other  order  than  the  present  decree, 
and  without  being  obliged  to  show  any  other  admittance,  Hotwith- 
standing  all  decrees  to  tlie  contrary,  which  shall  remain  null,  and  of 
no  effect. 

LVI.  Until  the  means  of  meeting  the  expenses  of  justice  of  said 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  351 

courts  shall  be  furnished  by  the  moneys  derived  from  penalties,  a 
valid  and  sufl&cient  assignment  shall  be  provided  by  us  to  defray 
the  expenses,  provided  that  penalties  shall  not  be  levied  again  on 
the  property  of  the  condemned. 

LVII.  The  president  and  councillors  of  the  said  religion,  hereto- 
fore admitted  to  our.court  of  the  parliament  of  Dauphinj^,  and  in  the 
Chamber  of  Edict  incorporated  with  it,  shall  continue,  and  have  their 
sessions  in  the  same ;  that  is  to  say,  the  presidents  as  they  now  do, 
and  the  councillors,  according  to  the  decrees  and  provisions  that  they 
have  obtained  in  our  private  council. 

LVIII.  We  declare  all  sentences,  decrees,  procedures,  seizures, 
sales,  and  decrees  made  and  given  against  persons  of  the  pretended 
reformed  religion,  living  or  dead,  since  the  decree  of  the  late  King 
Henry  the  Second,  our  very  honored  lord  and  father-in-law,  on  ac- 
count of  said  religious  tumults  and  disturbances  since  arising  with 
the  judgments  and  decrees,  from  the  present  time  are  revoked  and 
annulled.  "We  order  that  they  shall  be  erased  and  taken  from  the 
registries  of  the  courts,  whether  higher  or  inferior ;  we  will,  also, 
that  all  marks,  vestiges  and  monuments  of  the  said  executions,  libels 
and  defamatory  acts  against  their  persons,  memories  and  posterity, 
sliall  be  effaced  and  destroyed ;  and  that  the  places  in  which  de- 
molitions and  rasements  have  been  made  on  such  occasion,  shall  be 
returned  in  such  state  as  they  are  to  the  proprietors  of  the  same,  to  en- 
joy and  dispose  of  them  as  they  please :  and  generally,  we  have  erased, 
anniilled  and  revoked,  all  procedures  and  informations  made  for 
whatever  enterprises,  pretended  causes  of  treason,  &c, ;  notwith- 
standing which  procedures,  decrees  and  judgments  concerning  assem- 
blies, incorporation  and  confiscation,  we  will  the  persons  of  the 
said  religion,  and  others  who  have  followed  their  party  and  their 
heirs,  shall  enter  into  possession,  real  and  actual,  of  all  and  each  of 
their  property. 

LXIX.  All  procedures  made,  judgments  and  decrees  given,  against 
persons  of  the  said  religion,  who  have  borne  arms,  or  have  with- 
drawn from  our  kingdom,  or  within  the  same,  in  cities  and  countries 
held  by  them,  as  it  respects  all  matters  of  religion  and  disturbances, 
legal  as  well  as  conventional,  and  customary  and  feudal  seizures, 
forfeited  during  the  said  troubles,  or  legitimate  impediments  derived 
from  them,  and  whose  cognizance  shall  remain  to  our  judges,  shall 
be  considered  as  though  they  had  not  been  done  or  happened.  And 
such  we  have  and  declare  them  ;  and  the  same  shall  be  of  no  valid- 
ity, so  that  no  one  can  make  use  of  them,  but  shall  be  remitted  to 
the  state  they  were  in  before,  notwithstanding  the  said  decrees  and 


352  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

their  execution.  The  same  shall  also  hold  with  regard  to  other?, 
who  have  followed  the  party  of  the  said  religion,  or  have  been  ab- 
sent from  our  kingdom  in  the  midst  of  the  troubles.  And,  as  it  re- 
gards minors,  children  of  those  of  the  above-named  quality,  who 
have  died  during  the  troubles,  we  remit  the  parties  to  the  same  state 
they  were  in  before,  without  refunding  the  charges,  or  being  bound 
to  return  the  fines,  not  meaning  that  the  judgments  given  by  the 
presidial  judges,  or  other  inferior  judges,  against  those  of  the  said  re- 
ligion, or  who  have  followed  their  party,  shall  be  null,  if  they  have 
been  given  by  judges  in  cities  held  by  them,  and  which  have  been 
of  free  access  to  them. 

LX.  The  decrees  given  in  our  courts  parliamentary,  in  matters 
where  jurisdiction  belongs  to  the  courts  instituted  by  the  Edict  of  the 
year  1577,  and  the  articles  of  Xerac  and  Fleix,  in  which  courts  the  par- 
ties have  not  proceeded  voluntarily,  that  is  to  say,  have  alleged  and 
proposed  official  exceptions  to  the  jurisdictions  or  which  have  been 
given  by  default  or  foreclosure,  whether  the  matter  be  civil  or  criminal, 
notwithstanding  Avhich  exceptions  the  said  parties  have  been  com- 
pelled to  go  on,  shall,  in  like  manner,  be  nulland  of  no  effect;  and 
with  regard  to  decrees  rendered  against  those  of  the  said  religion, 
who  have  proceeded  voluntarily,  without  offering  exceptions,  said 
decrees  shall  remain  in  force.  However,  without  prejudice  to  the 
execution  of  the  same,  they  can,  if  it  seems  good,  institute  an  exami- 
nation by  civil  inquest  before  the  chambers  ordered  by  the  present 
edict,  except  the  time  allowed  b}^  the  present  edict  shall  have  passed 
to  their  prejudice,  and  until  the  said  chamber  and  chanceries  of  the 
same  shall  be  established,  verbal  or  written  summons  offered  by  per- 
sons of  said  i-eligion  before  the  judges,  registers,  or  commissioners,  ex- 
ecutors of  decrees  and  judgments,  shall  have  like  effect  as  if  they 
had  been  released  by  royal  letters. 

LXI.  In  all  inquests  which  shall  be  made  for  whatever  cause  in 
civil  matters,  if  the  examiner  or  commissioner  is  a  Catholic,  the  par- 
ties shall  be  bound  to  choose  an  adjunct,  and  if  they  cannot  agree  on 
one,  one  shall  be  furnished  by  the  said  examiner  or  commissioner, 
who  shall  be  of  the  said  pretended  reformed  ]-eligion  ;  and  the  prac- 
tice shall  be  the  same  when  the  examiner  or  commissioner  shall  be  of 
the  said  leligion,  an  adjimct  shall  be  chosen  who  shall  be  a  Catholic. 

LXII.  We  will  and  order  that  our  judges  recognize  the  validity 
of  wills,  in  v.'hieh  persons  of  the  "reformed  "  religion  have  an  interest, 
if  they  require  it :  and  the  appellations  of  the  said  judgments  can  be 
released  from  persons  of  the  said  reli^'ion,  notwithstanding  all  cus- 
toms to  the  contrary,  even  those  of  Brittany. 


AUTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS. 


353 


LXTII.  In  order  to  obviate  all  differences  which  might  arise  be- 
tween our  parliamentary  courts  and  the  chambers  of  said  courts 
ordered  by  our  present  edict,  there  shall  be  made  by  us  a  good  and 
sufficient  regulation  between  said  courts  and  chambers,  and  such, 
that  persons  of  the  said  religion  shall  have  the  full  benefit  of  this 
edict ;  which  regulation  shall  be  verified  in  our  courts  of  parlia- 
ment, and  guarded  and  observed  without  regard  to  precedents. 

LXIV.  We  inhibit  and  forbid  all  our  sovereign  courts,  and  others 
of  this  kingdom,  from  taking  cognizance  of  and  judging  civil  or  cinmi- 
nal  suits  of  persons  of  the  said  religion,  whose  jurisdiction  is  given  by 
our  edict  to  the  said  chambers,  unless  a  reference  be  demanded  by 
them,  as  is  provided  for  them  in  the  40th  article  above. 

LXV.  We  desire  also,  be  it  now  provisionally,  and  until  it  may 
be  otherwise  ordered,  that  in  all  suits  begun  and  to  be  commenced,  in 
which  persons  of  the  said  religion  shall  be  either  plaintiffs  or  defend- 
ants, principals  or  sureties,  in  civil  cases  in  which  our  officers  and  pre- 
sidial  courts  have  power  to  give  final  judgment,  it  shall  be  allowed 
them  to  demand  that  two  members  of  the  court,  where  the  suit  is  to 
be  tried,  shall  abstain  from  giving  judgment,  which  without  cause 
being  given,  they  shall  be  bound  to  do,  notwithstanding  the  ordinance 
by  which  the  judges  are  not  bound  to  comply  with  exceptions  with- 
out cause  given,  there  remaining  besides,  this  exception  of  right 
against  the  rest :  And  in  criminal  cases,  in  which  the  said  presidial 
and  other  judges  give  final  judgment,  those  charged  with  crime  being 
of  the  said  religion,  may  demand  that  three  of  the  said  judges  shall 
abstain  from  passing  judgment  on  their  case  without  giving  them 
reasons  therefor ;  And  the  provosts  of  the  marshals  of  France,  vice- 
bailiffs,  vice-seneschals,  lieutenants  of  the  short  robe,  and  other  officers 
of  like  quality,  shall  judge  according  to  the  ordinances  and  regula- 
tions heretofore  given  in  regard  to  vagrants,  and  as  to  those  being 
householders,  accused  of  crime,  to  be  tried  in  prevotal  courts  ;  if  such 
persons  are  of  said  religion,  they  can  demand  that  three  of  the  said 
judges  having  jurisdiction,  shall  abstain  from  giving  judgment  in  their 
suit,  and  shall  be  bound  to  abstain,  without  oause  given  therefor, 
except  there  be  in  the  number  to  judge  the  matter,  in  civil  cases,  two 
judges,  and  in  criminal,  three  judges,  who  are  members  of  said  reli- 
gion, in  which  case  exceptions  shall  not  be  taken  without  giving 
reasons  therefor ;  and  this  shall  be  equally  allowable  to  Catholics  in 
the  above-mentioned  cases,  regarding  the  said  exceptions  to  judges, 
where  members  of  the  said  pretended  "reformed"  religion  are  in  a 
majority.     We  do  not  intend,  however,  that  the  said  presidial  courts, 


354  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

provosts  of  marshals,  vice-bailiffs,  vice-seneschals,  and  others  who  give 
final  judgment,  shall,  in  consequence  of  what  is  now  said,  take  cogni- 
zance of  past  disturbances ;  and  as  to  crimes  and  excesses  arising  from 
other  causes  than  said  troubles,  since  the  commencement  of  the  month 
of  March,  1585,  until  the  end  of  the  year  1597,  in  cases  where  they 
have  jurisdiction,  we  desire  that  there  shall  be  an  appeal  from  their 
judgments  to  the  chambers  ordered  by  this  edict,  likewise  for  Catho- 
lic persons  charged  with  crime,  and  when  persons  of  the  pretended 
"  reformed  "  religion  shall  be  parties. 

LXVI.  We  also  will  and  order  that  in  all  instructions  other  than 
criminal  process,  in  the  seneschalships  of  Thoulouse,  Carcassonne, 
Rouergue,  Laraguais,  Beziers,  Montpellier,  and  Nismes,  that  the  magis- 
trate or  commissioner  for  said  instruction,  if  he  be  a  Catholic,  shall 
be  bound  to  take  an  adjunct  who  shall  be  of  the  said  pretended 
"  reformed "  religion,  on  whom  the  parties  shall  agree,  and  when 
they  cannot  agree,  one  of  the  said  religion  shall  be  selected  for  the 
office  by  the  said  magistrate  or  commissioner.  So  in  like  manner,  if 
the  said  magistrate  or  commissioner  is  of  the  said  religion,  he  shall  be 
bound  in  the  same  form  above  spoken  of  to  take  a  Catholic  adjunct. 

LXVII.  In  case  criminal  process  is  to  be  served  by  the  provosts 
of  marshals,  or  their  lieutenants,  on  any  one  of  the  said  religion,  be- 
ing a  householder,  who  shall  be  accused  of  prevotal  crimes,  the  said 
provosts,  or  their  lieutenants,  if  they  are  Catholics,  shall  be  bound  to 
call  in  to  the  instruction  of  said  process,  an  adjunct  of  said  religion: 
which  adjunct  shall  assist  in  the  judgment  of  jurisdiction,  and  in  the 
final  judgment  of  said  process  :  said  jurisdiction  shall  be  decided  at 
the  next  sitting  of  the  presidial  court,  in  full  bench  of  the  principal 
oflicers  of  said  court,  who  shall  be  present  under  penalty  of  having 
their  proceedings  declared  null,  except  the  accused  demand  that  .the 
jurisdiction  be  judged  of  in  said  chamber,  ordained  in  the  present 
edict.  In  which  case,  in  regard  to  those  being  householders  in  the 
provinces  of  Guyenne,  Languedoc,  Provence,  and  Dauphiny,  the  de- 
puties of  our  procureur-generals  shall  make  an  inquest  of  these 
householders,  and  shall  report  the  charges  and  accusations  made 
against  them,  in  order  to  decide  whether  the  cases  are  prevotal  or 
not,  so  that,  according  to  the  quality  of  the  crimes,  they  shall  be  sent 
by  said  chambers  for  judgment  to  the  ordinary  or  prevotal  courts, 
as  they  shall  see  to  be  proper,  by  observing  the  contents  of  this 
edict.  And  the  presidial  judges,  provosts  of  marshals,  vice-baililFs, 
vice-seneschals,  and  others  who  give  final  sentence,  shall  be  bound 
respectively  to  obey  and  fulfil  the  commands  made  by  the  said  cham- 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  355 

bei-s,  as  they  have  been  accustomed  to  do  at  the  said  parliaments, 
under  penalty  of  being  deprived  of  their  offices. 

LXVIII.  The  proclamations,  post-bills  and  sales  of  inheritances  in 
consequence  of  judgment,  shall  be  made  at  the  usual  places  and  hours, 
if  possible,  according  to  our  ordinances,  or  in  public  markets,  if  pos- 
sible, in  the  places  where  the  said  inheritances  are  situated,  and  when 
not,  they  shall  be  made  at  the  nearest  market  to  the  court  in  which 
the  matter  is  to  be  adjudicated,  and  the  bills  shall  be  posted  in  the 
most  public  places  of  said  market,  and  also  in  the  entrance  to  session- 
house  of  said  place,  and  by  this  means,  the  said  proclamations  shall  be 
deemed  good  and  valid,  and  not  subject  to  arrest  by  the  flaws  which 
can  be  alleged  against  them. 

LXIX.  All  papers,  titles,  vouchers  and  documents  which  have 
been  taken,  shall  be  returned  and  restored,  by  both  parties,  to  those 
to  whom  they  belong  ;  though  said  papers,  or  the  castles  and  houses 
in  which  they  were  kept,  have  been  taken  and  seized,  whether  by 
special  commissions  of  the  late  King  last  deceased,  our  very  honored 
lord  and  brother-in-law,  or  our  own,  or  by  the  commands  of  the  gover- 
nors and  lieutenant-generals  of  our  provinces,  or  by  the  authority  of 
the  chiefs  of  either  part}',  or  under  any  other  pretext  whatever. 

LXX.  The  children  of  those  who  have  withdrawn  from  our 
kingdom  since  the  death  of  the  late  King  Henry  the  Second,  our 
very  honored  lord  and  father-in-law,  on  account  of  religion  and  the 
troubles,  though  the  said  children  have  been  born  out  of  this  king- 
dom, shall  be  held  for  true  Frenchmen  and  citizens;  and  such  we  de- 
clare them,  so  that  they  shall  not  be  under  the  necessity  of  taking  out 
letters  of  naturalization,  or  other  provisions  than  our  present  edict ; 
notwithstanding  all  ordinances  to  the  contrary,  which  we  have  and 
do  abrogate ;  provided  the  said  children  born  in  foreign  countries 
shall  be  bound,  within  ten  years  after  the  publication  of  the  present 
edict,  to  take  up  their  residence  in  this  kingdom. 

LXXL  Those  of  the  said  pretendedly  reformed  rehgion,  and 
others  who  may  have  followed  their  party,  who  may  have  a  lease  pre- 
vious to  the  troubles  of  registry-fees  or  other  public  property,  tax, 
foreign  imposition,  and  other  rights  to  us  appertaining,  which  they 
have  been  unable  to  enjoy  the  use  of  on  account  of  the  troubles,  shall 
remain  discharged,  as  we  now  discharge  them,  from  payment  of  all 
they  may  have  received  of  said  finances  or  that  they  have  paid  with- 
out fraud,  elsewhere  than  at  the  reeeivers's  office,  notwithstanding  all 
obligations  by  them  passed. 

LXXII.  All  places,  cities  and  provinces  of  our  kingdom,  coun- 


356  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

tries,  lands  and  manors  under  otir  authority,  shall  use  and  enjoy  the 
same  privileges,  immunities,  liberties  and  franchises,  fairs,  markets, 
jurisdictions  and  courts  of  justice,  as  the}'"  were  in  possession  of,  pre- 
vious to  the  troubles,  beginning  with  the  month  of  March,  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred  and  eighty-five,  and  other  years  preceding,  not- 
withstanding all  letters  to  the  contrary  and  the  transferences  of  said 
courts  elsewhere :  provided  that  they  have  been  done  solely  on  ac- 
count of  the  troubles :  which  courts  shall  be  remitted  and  re-establish- 
ed in  the  cities  and  places  where  they  were  originally. 

LXXIII.  If  there  be  any  prisoners  who  are  still  held  by  autho- 
rity of  justice,  or  otherwise,  even  in  the  galleys,  on  account  of  the 
troubles,  or  of  said  religion,  they  shall  be  freed  and  set  at  full  lib- 
erty. 

LXXIV.  Persons  of  the  said  religion  shall  for  the  sequel  be  dis- 
charged from  all  ordinary  or  extraordinary  charges,  as  well  as  Catho- 
lics, and  in  proportion  to  their  possessions  and  facilities ;  and  the  par- 
ties who  wish  to  be  discharged,  can  bring  the  matter  before  the 
judges  to  whom  the  jurisdiction  belongs  :  and  all  our  subjects,  whether 
of  the  one  religion  or  the  other,  shall  be  indifferently  discharged  from 
all  charges,  which  have  been  imposed  by  the  one  party  on  the  other 
during  the  troubles  against  their  consent;  with  debts  contracted  but 
not  paid,  expenses  made  without  their  consent,  without,  however, 
suffering  the  moneys  employed  in  the  payment  of  said  charges  to  be 
reclaimed. 

LXXA^.  We  do  not  mean,  however,  that  those  of  the  said  religion, 
and  others  who  have  followed  their  party,  nor  the  Catholics  who  re- 
mained in  the  cities  and  places  by  them  occupied  and  detained,  and 
who  have  contributed,  shall  be  prosecuted  for  the  payment  of  taxes, 
aids,  octrois,  and  other  impositions  and  subsidies,  which  have  expired, 
imposed  during  the  troubles  previous,  and  up  to  our  accession  to  the 
crown,  whether  by  edicts  and  commands  of  late  Kings  our  predeces- 
sors, or  by  the  advice  and  deliberation  of  the  governors  and  estates 
of  the  pi'ovinces,  courts  of  parliaments,  and  others,  from  which  we 
have  and  do  discharge  them,  by  forbidding  the  treasurers,  generals  of 
France  and  of  our  finances,  general  and  special  receivers,  their  com- 
missioners and  agents,  and  other  intendants  and  commissioners  of  our 
finances,  from  searching,  molesting,  or  disturbing  them,  directly  or 
indirectly,  in  any  manner. 

LXXVI.  All  chiefs,  lords,  chevaliers,  gentlemen,  oflicers,  corpora- 
tions of  cities  and  communities,  and  all  others,  who  have  aided  and 
succored  them,  their  widows,  heirs,  and  successors,  shall  be  quit  of 


AUTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS. 


557 


the  payment  of  all  moneys,  which  have  been  by  them  and  their  ordi- 
nances taken  and  levied,  as  well  of  royal  property,  whatever  it  may 
amount  to,  as  of  cities  and  communities,  and  private  individuals, 
rents,  revenues,  plate,  sales  of  furniture,  ecclesiastical  or  otherwise, 
forests  of  full  growth,  whether  of  public  property  or  otherwise,  fines, 
pillage  ransoms,  or  other  kind  of  property,  taken  by  them  on  account 
of  the  troubles  begun  in  the  month  of  March,  1585,  and  other  troubles 
preceding  until  our  accession  to  the  crown,  though  those  who  have 
been  commissioned  by  them  for  the  levy  of  the  said  moneys,  or  who 
have  given  or  furnished  them,  by  these  ordinances  shall  be  in  no  m,an- 
ner  disturbed  therefor,  either  now  or  hereafter,  and  shall  be  quit, 
both  they  and  their  commissioners,  of  all  the  management  and  ad- 
ministration of  the  said  moneys,  by  bringing  in,  within  four  months 
after  the  publication  of  the  present  edict,  made  in  our  court  of  par- 
liament of  Paris,  their  acquittances  duly  expedited  by  the  chiefs  of 
the  said  religion,  or  by  those  who  Imve  been  commissioned  to  audit 
and  close  the  accounts. 

Likewise  they  shall  be  acquitted  and  discharged  for  all  acts  of 
hostility,  levy  and  conduct  of  troops,  the  fabrication  and  valuation  of 
money  made  according  to  the  ordinances  of  said  chiefs,  the  casting 
and  seizure  of  artillery  and  munitions,  confections  of  powder  and 
saltpetre,  seizures,  fortifications,  dismantling  and  demolition  of  cities, 
castles,  towns  and  villages,  attacks  upon  the  same,  burning  and  de- 
stroying of  churches  and  houses,  establishment  of  courts,  judgments 
and  executions  of  the  same,  whether  of  civil  or  criminal  cases,  police 
and  their  regulation,  voyages  and  intelligences,  negotiations,  treaties, 
and  contracts  made  with  all  princes  and  foreign  communities,  and  the 
introduction  of  the  said  strangers  into  cities  and  other  places  of  our 
kingdom,  and  generally  for  all  that  has  been  done,  undertaken,  and 
negotiated  during  the  said  troubles,  since  the  death  of  the  late  King 
Henry  the  Second,  our  very  honored  lord  and  brother-in-law,  by 
those  of  the  said  religion  and  others  who  have  followed  their  party, 
though  it  may  not  be  particularly  expressed  and  specified. 

LXXVIl.  Persons  of  the  said  religion  shall  also  be  held  harmless 
for  all  general  and  provincial  assemblies  by  them  made  and  held,  as 
well  at  Mantz  as  at  other  places,  up  to  the  present  time,  with  coun- 
cils by  them  established  and  ordered  in  the  provinces,  deliberations, 
ordinances,  and  regulations  made  at  the  said  assemblies  and  councils, 
establishment  and  augmentation  of  garrisons,  assemblage  of  troops, 
levy  on  and  taking  possession  of  our  property,  whether  in  the  hands 
of  receivers-general  or  private  persons,  parish  collectors  or  otherwise, 


358  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

in  whatever  manner  soever,  seizures  of  salt,  continuation  or  erection 
anew  of  roads,  tolls,  and  the  receipts  fi'om  them,  even  at  Royan,  and 
upon  the  banks  of  the  Bharente,  Garonne,  the  Rhone,  and  Dordogne, 
armaments  and  battles  by  sea,  and  all  accidents  and  excesses  happen- 
ing, to  pay  for  the  said  journeys,  tolls  and  other  moneys,  fortifica- 
tions of  cities,  castles,  and  places,  exactions  of  money  and  labor,  re- 
ceipts of  the  said  monej^,  destitution  of  our  receivers  and  leaseholders, 
and  other  ofiicers,  establishment  of  others  in  their  place,  and  of  all 
reviews,  despatches,  and  negotiations  made,  as  well  within  as  without 
our  kingdom,  and  generally  of  all  which  has  been  done,  deliberated, 
written,  and  ordered  by  the  said  assemblies  and  councils ;  so  that 
those  who  have  given  their  advice,  signed,  executed,  caused  to  be 
signed  and  executed,  the  said  ordinances,  regulations,  and  delibera- 
tions, shall  not  be  molested  therefor,  nor  their  widows,  heirs,  and  suc- 
cessors, now  or  hereafter,  although  the  full  particulars  are  not  here 
fully  declared.  And  especially  shall  perpetual  silence  be  imposed  on 
our  procureur-generals  and  their  substitutes,  and  on  all  those  who  are 
interested  therein  in  what  manner  soever,  notwithstanding  all  de- 
crees, sentences,  judgments,  informations,  and  procedures  made  to 
the  contrary. 

LXXVIII  "We  approve,  besides,  and  render  valid,  and  authorize 
the  accounts,  which  have  been  heard  and  closed,  and  examined  by 
the  deputies  of  the  said  assembly;  we  wish  that  these,  with  the  ac- 
quittances and  papers  which  have  been  returned  to  those  having  ac- 
counts, should  be  carried  to  our  chamber  of  accounts  at  Paris,  three 
months  after  the  publication  of  the  present  edict,  and  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  procureur-general,  to  be  delivered  to  the  guardian  of 
books  and  registers  of  our  chamber,  to  be  consulted  whenever  it  shall 
be  necessary,  so  that  the  said  accounts  shall  not  be  reviewed,  nor 
those  rendering  them  bound  to  any  appearance,  cori'cction  as  in  case 
of  omission,  or  false  acquittances  ;  imposing  silence  on  our  said  pro- 
cureur-general, with  regard  to  the  surplus  which  may  be  thought  to 
be  defective,  and  in  regard  to  the  formalities  which  may  not  have 
been  kept.  Forbidding  our  officers  of  account,  as  well  at  Paris  as  in 
the  other  provinces  where  they  are  established,  from  taking  any  cog- 
nizance thereof  in  any  manner  whatsoever. 

LXXIX.  And  as  it  regards  the  accounts  which  have  not  been  re- 
turned, we  wish  the  same  to  be  heard,  closed,  and  examined  by  com- 
missioners, who  shall  be  appointed  by  us,  who  shall  without  difficulty 
pass  and  allow  the  accounts  paid  by  the  said  persons  authorized  in 
virtue  of  ordinances  of  the  said  assembly,  or  others  having  power. 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  359 

LXXX.  All  collectors,  receivers,  farmers,  and  all  others,  shall  con- 
tinue well  and  duly  discharged  for  all  sums  of  money  that  they  have 
paid  to  the  said  commissioners  of  the  said  assembly,  of  whatsoever 
nature,  even  until  the  last  day  of  this  month.  We  wish  the  whole  to 
be  passed  and  allowed,  at  the  accounts  which  shall  be  rendered  at  our 
chambers  of  accounts,  purely  and  simply  in  virtue  of  the  quittances 
which  shall  be  brought  in;  and  if  any  shall  be  brought  in  hereafter, 
they  shall  continue  null,  and  those  who  accept  or  pass  them  shall  be 
fined-  for  false  use  ;  and  if  there  should  be  any  accounts  already  ren- 
dered, on  which  are  found  any  erasures  or  changes,  we  have  and  do 
establish  the  said  papers  entirely  in  virtue  of  these  presents,  so  that 
there  will  be  no  necessity  for  particular  letters,  nor  any  thing  else, 
except  an  extract  from  the  present  article. 

LXXXI.  Governors,  captains,  consuls,  and  persons  commissioned 
to  recover  property,  to  pay  the  garrisons  of  places  held  by  the  party 
of  the  reformed  religion,  whom  our  receivers  and  parish  collectors 
may  have  supplied  by  loan  upon  their  notes  offhand  and  obligations, 
whether  through  constraint,  or  in  obedience  to  the  commands  of  the 
treasurer-generals,  with  moneys  required  for  the  support  of  said  gar- 
risons until  their  regulation  by  the  State  allowance  which  we  caused 
to  be  granted  in  the  year  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety-six, 
and  the  augmentation,  since  granted  by  us,  shall  be  held  acquitted 
and  discharged  of  all  payments  made  for  the  above  purpose,  although 
no  express  mention  thereof  is  made  in  the  said  notes  of  hand  and 
obligations,  the  same  shall  be  returned  as  null.  And  to  make  the 
matter  satisfactory,  our  receiver-generals  in  each  district  shall  furnish 
by  the  special  receivers  their  quittances  to  the  said  collectors.  For 
the  discharge  of  the  said  receiver-generals,  there  shall  be  sums  of 
which  they  shall  keep  account,  as  is  directed,  indorsed  on  the  orders 
levied  by  the  royal  treasurer,  under  the  authority  of  the  treasurer- 
generals  extraordinary  of  our  wars,  for  the  payment  of  the  said  gar- 
risons ;  and  where  the  said  charges  shall  not  amount  to  so  much 
as  our  said  allowance  granted  in  the  3'ear  one  thousand  five  hun- 
dred and  ninety-six,  and  the  said  augmentation,  we  order,  that  it 
may  be  supplied,  that  new  orders  shall  be  granted  of  what  may  be 
necessary  for  the  discharge  of  those  who  are  responsible,  and  the  res- 
titution of  the  said  promises  and  obligations,  so  that  there  shall  be  no 
demand  for  the  future  on  those  who  have  made  them;  and  that  all 
writings  necessary  to  render  legal  the  discharge  of  those  responsi- 
ble, shall   be  granted,  in  virtue  of  the  present  article. 

LXXXII.  Also,  the  members  shall  depart  and  desist  from  all 
practices,  negotiations  and  intelligence?,  as  well  within,  as  without 


360  FRENCH   PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

our  kingdom ;  and  the  said  assemblies  and  councils,  established  in 
the  provinces,  shall  separate  promptly,  and  all  leagues  and  associa- 
tions made,  and  to  be  made,  shall  be  broken  and  annulled,  as  we  now 
break  and  annul  them;  forbidding,  very  expressly,  our  subjects  from 
making  without  our  permission  hereafter  any  assessments  and  levies 
of  monej-s,  foi-tifications,  enrolments  of  men,  congregations  and  as- 
semblies, other  than  those  permitted  by  our  present  edict,  and  with- 
out arms :  which  we  now  prohibit  and  forbid,  under  pain  of  being 
rigorously  punished,  as  contemners  and  infractors  of  our  commands 
and  ordinances. 

LXXXIII.  All  captures  made  at  sea  during  the  troubles,  in  vir- 
tbe  of  permission  and  consent  given,  and  such  as  have  been  done  by 
land  from  those  of  the  contrary  party,  and  which  have  been  ap- 
proved of  by  judges  and  commissioners  of  the  admiralty,  or  by  the 
leaders  of  the  party  of  the  said  religion  or  their  council,  shall  remain 
undisturbed,  under  the  benefit  of  our  present  edict,  so  that  there  shall 
be  no  prosecution ;  nor  shall  the  captains,  and  others  who  have  made 
the  said  prizes,  their  sureties,  and  the  said  judges,  ofiicers,  their 
widows  and  heii's,  be  disturbed  or  molested  in  any  manner  what- 
ever, notwithstanding  all  decrees  of  our  privy  council,  and  parlia- 
ments ;  and  all  letters  of  marque,  and  seizures  pending  and  not  de- 
cided, we  wish  to  have  fully  and  entirely  replevied. 

LXXXIV.  Nor  shall  persons  of  the  said  religion  be  disturbed 
in  like  manner  for  the  opposition  and  impediment  they  may  have 
made  heretofore,  even  previous  to  the  troubles,  to  the  execution  of 
the  decrees  and  judgments  given  for  the  re-establishment  of  the 
Catholic  religion,  apostolic  and  Roman,  in  divers  places  of  this  king- 
dom. 

LXXXV.  And,  as  it  regards  whatever  has  been  done  or  taken 
during  the  troubles  beyond  the  regulsr  course  of  hostilities,  or  by 
hostilities  contrary  to  the  public  or  private  regulations  of  the  leaders, 
or  of  communities  of  provinces  which  have  power,  the  same  may  be 
prosecuted  by  the  ordinary  course  of  justice. 

LXXXVI.  Nevertheless,  if  what  was  done  by  both  parties  con- 
trary to  the  regulations,  were,  without  any  difference,  excepted  and 
reserved  from  the  general  amnesty  contained  in  our  present  edict, 
and  were  liable  to  (inquiry)  prosecution,  as  every  soldier  could  be 
prosecuted ;  in  consequence  of  which  a  renewal  of  disturbance  could 
happen. 

On  that  account,  we  will  and  order  that  only  the  extreme  cases 
shall  be  exempt  from  the  said  abolition :  as  ravishing  and  rapes  of 
women  and  girls,  burnings,  murders,  and  robberies  made  by  treachery 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  361 

and  ambuscade,  out  of  the  course  of  hostility,  and  to  satisfy  private 
vengeance,  contrary  to  the  rights  of  war,  infractions  of  passports, 
and  safeguards,  with  murder  and  pillage  without  order,  in  regard  to 
those  of  the  said  religion  and  others,  who  have  followed  the  party  of 
the  chiefs  who  had  authority  over  them,  founded  on  particular  occa- 
sions, which  have  led  them  to  command  and  order  the  above. 

LXXXVII,  We  also  order  that  punishment  shall  be  made  for 
crimes  and  offences  committed  between  persons  of  the  same  party, 
if  said  acts  are  not  ordered  by  the  leadei-s  of  either  party,  from  the 
necessity,  law,  and  order  of  war.  And  the  levying  and  exacting  of 
money,  licenses  to  carry  arms,  and  other  exploits  of  war  made  by 
private  authority,  and  without  permission,  shall  be  subject  to  the 
usual  course  of  justice. 

LXXXVIII.  In  the  cities  dismantled  during  the  troubles,  the 
ruins  and  injuries  of  the  same  may,  by  our  permission,  be  re-edified 
and  repaired  by  the  inhabitants,  at  their  cost  and  expense,  and  the 
provisions  made  heretofore  in  regard  to  this  matter,  shall  hold  in 
this  case. 

LXXXIX.  We  order,  will,  and  it  pleases  us,  that  all  lords,  cheva- 
liers, gentlemen  and  others,  of  whatever  quality  and  condition,  of 
the  said  religion,  and  othei*s  who  have  followed  their  party,  shall 
enter  upon,  and  be  effectually  guarded  in,  the  enjoyment  of  all  and 
each  of  their  possessions,  rights,  names,  consideration,  and  actions, 
notwithstanding  the  judgments  rendered  against  them  during  the 
troubles,  and  on  account  of  them,  which  decrees,  seizures,  and  judg- 
ments, we  finally  have,  and  do  declare  null  and  void,  and  of  no  force 
and  effect, 

XC.  The  acquisitions  that  those  of  the  pretended  reformed  re- 
ligion, and  others  who  have  followed  their  party,  have  made,  by  the 
authority  of  others  than  the  late  King's,  our  predecessor's,  from 
the  lands  or  houses  belonging  to  the  Church,  shall  have  no  force  and 
effect :  but  we  order,  wish,  and  it  is  pleasing  to  us,  that  the  ecclesi- 
astics shall  recover  directly,  and  without  delay,  and  be  protected  in, 
the  possession  and  enjoyment,  real  and  actual,  of  the  said  properties 
thus  alienated,  without  being  bound  to  return  the  price  of  said  sales, 
and  that,  notwithstanding  the  said  contracts  of  sale,  which  for  that 
purpose  we  have  annulled  and  revoked:  nor  shall  the  said  pur- 
chasers have  any  claim  on  the  chiefs,  by  whose  authority  the  said 
sales  have  been  made.  Nevertheless,  for  the  reimbursement  of  the 
money,  by  them  truly  and  faithfully  paid  out,  letters  patent  of  per- 
mission shall  be  granted  to  persons  of  the  said  religion,  to  impose 

VOL.  II — 16 


362  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

and  equalize  on  themselves  the  sums  for  which  said  sales  have 
amounted  to ;  but  the  said  purchasers  shall  bring  no  action  for 
damages  and  interest,  of  which  they  have  been  deprived,  but  shall 
content  themselves  with  the  reimbursement  of  moneys  by  them  fur- 
nished for  the  purchase  of  such  acquisitions ;  deducting  therefrom 
the  worth  of  the  revenues  by  them  received,  in  case  the  said  sale 
shall  be  found  to  have  been  made  at  a  vile  and  unjust  price. 

XCI.  And,  in  fine,  that  our  justices,  oflScers,  as  others  our  sub- 
jects, may  clearly  and  with  all  certitude  be  informed  of  our  will  and 
intention,  and,  in  order  to  take  away  all  ambiguities  and  doubts 
which  may  be  made  by  means  of  preceding  edicts,  from  their  diver- 
sity, we  have  and  do  declare  all  other  preceding  edicts,  secret  ar- 
ticles, letters,  declarations,  modifications,  restrictions,  interpretations, 
decrees  and  registers,  secret  deliberations,  or  otherwise,  heretofore  by 
us  or  our  predecessors  made  in  our  courts  of  parliament  or  otlierwise, 
concerning  the  said  religion,  and  the  troubles  arising  in  our  kingdom, 
to  be  null  and  of  no  effect ;  which,  and  the  derogatory  clauses  therein 
contained,  we  have,  by  this  our  edict,  derogated,  and  do  derogate 
them,  and,  from  the  present  time  do  destroy,  revoke  and  annul  them; 
declaring  expressly,  that  we  wish  this  our  edict  to  be  firm  and  in- 
violable, guarded  and  observed,  as  well  by  our  judges,  officers,  as 
others  our  subjects,  without  its  being  impeded,  or  any  regard  being 
had  to  any  thing  to  the  contrary,  or  derogatory  thereto. 

XCII.  And  for  the  greater  assurance  of  its  preservation  and  ob- 
servance, we  will,  order,  and  it  pleases  us,  that  all  the  governors  and 
lieutenant-generals  of  our  provinces,  bailiffs,  seneschals,  and  other  or- 
dinary judges  of  cities  of  our  kingdom,  shall,  directly  after  the  recep- 
tion of  this  edict,  swear  to  guard  and  observe  it  each  in  his  own  juris- 
diction, as  well  as  the  mayors,  sheriffs,  capitouls,  consuls,  and  alder- 
men of  cities,  annual  or  perpetual.  We  enjoin  it  also  on  our  bailiffs, 
seneschals,  or  their  lieutenants,  and  other  judges,  to  have  it  adminis- 
tered to  the  principal  inhabitants  of  the  said  cities,  as  well  of  one  as 
the  other  religion.  Placing  all  the  said  cities  under  our  protection 
and  safeguard,  and  the  one  under  the  protection  of  the  other,  charg- 
ing them  respectively,  and  by  public  acts,  to  respond  by  the  ordinary 
courts  to  infractions  which  may  be  made  to  this  our  edict,  in  the 'said 
cities,  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  same,  or  to  represent  and  place  the 
matter  into  the  hands  of  justice.  "We  command  our  true  and  liege 
people  holding  our  courts  of  parliament,  chambers  of  accounts,  and 
court  of  aids,  that  directly  after  the  reception  of  the  present  edict, 
they  shall,  all  things  ceasing,  under  pain  of  rendering  their  other  acts 
null,  take  the  same  oath  as  above,  and  cause  this  our  said  edict  to  be 


AUTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS.  363 

registered  aud  published  in  our  courts,  according  to  the  form  and 
tenor  thereof,  purely  and  simply,  without  using  any  modifications, 
restrictions,  declarations,  and  secret  registries,  nor  wait  for  any 
other  order  or  command  from  us ;  and  we  order  our  pi'ocureur- 
generals  to  require  and  forward  without  delay  the  said  publication. 

Given  at  Nantes,  in  the  month  of  April,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
one  thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety-eight ;  and  of  our  reign,  the 
ninth.     Signed  Henry  ;  and  above  by  the  King,  being  in  his  council, 

Forget. 

And  sealed  with  the  great  seal  of  green  wax,  upon  a  ground  of 
red  and  green  silk.     Read,  published,  and  registered,   &,c.     Signed 

VOYSIX. 

Second  Part.  Secret  Articles.  I.  The  sixth  article  of  the  said 
edict,  touching  liberty  of  conscience,  and  permission  to  all  our  sub- 
jects to  dwell  and  live  in  this  kingdom,  and  countries  under  our  au- 
thority, shall  have  place,  and  be  observed  according  to  its  form  and 
tenor,  even  in  regard  to  ministers  and  schoolmasters,  and  all  others 
who  are,  or  shall  be,  of  the  said  religion,  whether  citizens  or  other- 
wise, whilst  conforming  to  the  provisions  of  said  edict. 

II.  Nor  shall  persons  of  the  said  religion  be  constrained  to  contri- 
bute to  the  repairs  or  construction  of  churches,  chapels,  or  parson- 
ages, nor  for  the  purchase  of  sacerdotal  ornaments,  lights,  casting  of 
bells,  holy  bread,  rights  of  confraternities,  the  hire  of  houses  for  the 
residence  of  the  priests  or  monks,  and  other  like  things,  although 
they  may  be  obliged  by  the  foundations,  donations,  or  other  dispo- 
sitions made  by  them,  or  their  authors  and  predecessors. 

III.  Also,  they  shall  not  be  constrained  to  tapestry  and  adorn  the 
front  of  their  houses  on  festival  days,  but  only  allow  that  it  may  be 
adorned  and  prepared  by  the  officers  of  the  places ;  but  those  of  the 
said  religion  shall  contribute  nothing  for  that  purpose. 

IV.  Nor  shall  members  of  said  religion  be  bound  to  receive  ex- 
hortation when  they  shall  be  sick  or  near  death,  whether  by  con- 
demnation of  justice  or  otherwise,  from  others  than  of  the  same  reli- 
gion, but  may  be  visited  and  consoled  by  their  ministers  without 
being  disturbed  ;  and  as  to  those  who  shall  be  condemned  by  justice, 
the  said  ministers  shall  likewise  visit  and  console  them,  without  mak- 
ing public  prayers,  except  in  places  where  the  said  public  exercise  is 
allowed  them  b}"  the  said  edict. 

V.  Members  of  the  said  religion  shall  be  allowed  to  have  public 
worship  at  Pimpoul,  and  for  Dieppe  in  the  Faubourg  du  Pauht,  and 
the  said  places  of  Pimpoul  and  Paulet  shall  be  considered  as  bailiwicks. 


364  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

As  to  Sancerre,  the  said  worship  shall  be  continued  there  as  at  pre^ 
sent,  provided,  in  the  establishment  of  it  in  the  said  city,  the  consent 
of  the  lord  of  the  place  be  made  apparent  by  the  inhabitants,  for 
whom  provision  shall  be  made  by  the  commissioners  whom  His  Ma- 
jesty shall  appoint  for  the  execution  of  the  edict.  The  said  worship 
shall  also  be  free  and  publicly  re-established  in  the  city  of  Montagnal, 
in  Languedoc. 

VI.  As  to  the  article  making  mention  of  bailiwicks,  what  follows 
is  declared  and  agreed  upon.  Firstly,  with  regard  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  worship  of  the  said  religion  in  two  places  granted  for  that 
purpose  in  each  bailiwick,  seneschalshij),  and  government,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  said  religion  shall  name  two  cities,  in  the  suburbs  of  which 
the  said  worship  shall  be  established  by  the  commissioners  appointed 
by  His  Majesty  for  the  execution  of  the  edict,  and  where  it  shall  not  be 
judged  proper  by  them,  the  members  of  the  said  religion  shall  name 
two  or  three  burghs  or  villages  near  the  said  cities,  and  from  each  of 
them  one  shall  be  chosen  by  the  commissioners  ;  and  if  through  con- 
tagion, hostility,  or  otlier  legitimate  impediment,  the  worship  cannot 
be  continued  in  the  said  places,  others  shall  be  granted  them  while 
the  impediment  continues.  Secondly,  as  to  the  government  of  Picar- 
dy,  tliei*e  shall  be  provided  but  two  cities,  in  the  suburbs  of  which 
the  persons  of  the  said  religion  can  exercise  the  same  for  all  the  baili- 
wicks, seneschalships,  and  governments  which  depend  on  it ;  and  if 
it  shall  not  be  deemed  proper  to  establish  it  in  the  said  cities,  two 
burghs  or  villages  convenient  therefor  shall  be  allowed  them. 
Thirdl}^,  on  account  of  the  great  extent  of  seneschalship  of  Provence 
and  the  bailiwick  of  Viennois,  His  Majesty  grants  in  each  of  the  said 
seneschalships  a  third  place,  whose  choice  and  nomination  shall  be  as 
above,  in  which  to  establish  the  exercise  of  the  said  religion,  besides 
the  other  places  in  which  it  is  already  established. 

VH.  The  privilege  granted  by  the  said  article  for  the  exercise  of 
the  said  religion  in  bailiwicks,  shall  hold  in  the  lands  which  be- 
longed to  the  late  Queen,  mother-in-law  of  His  Majesty,  and  in  the 
bailiwick  of  Beaiijolais. 

VIII.  Besides  the  two  places  granted  for  the  exercise  of  the  said 
religion,  by  the  special  articles  of  the  3'ear  1577,  in  the  islands  of 
Marennes  and  Oleron,  two  other  places  shall  be  granted  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  the  said  inhabitants,  to  wit:  one  for  the  island  of 
Marennes,  and  another  for  the  island  of  Oleron. 

IX.  Tlie  provisions  prepared  by  His  Majesty  for  the  exercise  of 
the  said  religion  in  the  cit3r  of  Metz  shall  have  their  full  effect. 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  365 

X.  His  Majesty  wishes  and  intends  that  article  XXYII.  of  his  edict, 
touching  the  admission  of  persons  of  the  said  religion  pretendedly  re- 
formed to  offices  and  dignities,  should  be  observed  and  followed  accord- 
ing to  its  form  and  tenor,  notwithstanding  the  edicts  and  agreements 
hitherto  made  for  the  reduction  of  any  princes,  lords,  gentlemen,  and 
Catholic  cities  to  his  obedience,  which  shall  have  no  place  to  the  pre- 
judice of  persons  of  said  religion,  as  it  regards  the  exercise  of  the 
same.  And  the  said  exercise  shall  be  regulated  according  to,  and  as 
it  is  commanded  by,  the  articles  which  follow,  in  accordance  with 
which  shall  be  drawn  up  the  instructions  of  the  commissioners  whom 
His  Majesty  shall  deputize  for  the  execution  of  said  edict,  as  it  is  di- 
rected therein. 

XI.  By  the  edict  made  by  His  Majesty  for  the  reduction  of  the 
Duke  of  Guise,  the  exercise  of  the  said  religion  shall  be  neither  made 
nor  established  in  the  cities  and  suburbs  of  Rheims,  Rocroy,  St.  Dizier, 
Guise,  Joinville,  Ntmes,  and  Moncerret,  in  Ardennes. 

XII.  Xor  shall  the  exercise  thereof  be  allowed  in  other  places  iii 
the  environs  of  said  cities  and  places  forbidden  by  the  edict  of  the 
year  15*77. 

XIII.  And  in  order  to  take  away  ambiguity,  which  might  arise  in 
regard  to  the  word  in  the  environs,  His  Majesty  deekires  that  he  means 
such  places  as  are  within  the  banlieu  of  said  cities,  within  which 
places  the  exercise  of  the  said  religion  shall  not  be  established,  imless 
permitted  by  the  edict  of  1577. 

XIV.  And  inasmuch  as  the  said  exercise  is  generally  permitted  in 
fiefs  held  by  persons  of  the  said  reli  j;ion,  except  within  the  precincts 
above  excepted,  His  Majesty  declares  that  the  same  permission  shall 
be  allowed  even  in  fiefs  which  are  situated  within  the  precincts  above 
spoken  of,  if  held  by  persons  of  the  said  religion,  as  is  allowed  by  the 
edict  of  Nantes. 

XV.  By  the  edict  m:iJe  for  the  reduction  of  the  Lord  Marshal  de 
la  Chatre,  in  each  of  the  bailiwicks  of  Orleans  and  Bourges  there 
shall  be  allowed  but  one  place  of  bailiwick  for  the  exercise  of  the 
said  religion,  which,  however,  may  be  continued  in  places  where  it 
is  permitted  to  continue  by  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 

XVI.  The  concession  to  preach  in  fiefs  shall  likewise  hold  in  the 
said  bailiwicks,  in  the  form  allowed  by  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 

XVII.  The  edict  granted  for  the  reduction  of  the  Lord  Marshal 
de  Bois  Dauphin  shall  likewise  be  observed,  and  the  worship  of  the 
said  religion  shall  not  be  allowed  in  the  cities,  suburbs,  and  places 
brought  back  by  him  to  the  service  of  His  Majesty;  and  as  to  the 


366  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

environs  or  banlieii  of  the  same,  the  edict  of  '77  shall  be  observed, 
even  in  houses  of  fiefs,  as  ordez'ed  by  the  Edict  of  Kantes. 

XVIII.  There  shall  be  no  exercise  of  the  said  religion  in  the  cities, 
suburbs,  and  castle  of  Marlais,  according  to  the  edict  passed  for  tlie 
reduction  of  said  city;  and  the  edict  of  '77  shall  be  observed  within 
the  limits  of  the  same,  even  of  fiefs,  as  ordered  by  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 

XIX.  In  consequence  of  the  edict  for  the  reduction  of  Quiuper- 
corantin,  there  shall  be  no  exercise  of  the  said  religion  in  the  entire 
bishoprick  of  Cournailo. 

XX.  Also  according  to  the  edict  made  for  the  reduction  of  Beau- 
vais,  the  exercise  of  the  said  religion  shall  not  be  allowed  in  the  said 
city  of  Beauvais,  nor  within  three  leagues  around  it ;  however,  it 
may  be  performed  and  allowed  without  the  limits  of  the  bailiwick, 
in  places  permitted  by  the  edict  of  '77,  even  in  fiefs,  as  ordered  by 
the  said  Edict  of  Xantes. 

XXI.  And  inasmuch  as  the  edict  made  for  the  reduction  of  the 
late  Lord  Admiral  de  Villiers  is  only  provisional,  and  only  till  the 
King  shall  otherwise  order,  His  Majesty  wills  and  orders,  that  not- 
withstanding the  same,  his  Edict  of  Xantes  shall  be  observed  within 
the  cities  and  provinces  returned  to  their  obedience  by  the  Lord  Ad- 
miral, as  in  other  places  of  our  kingdom. 

XXII.  In  consequence  of  the  edict  made  for  the  reduction  of  the 
Lord  Duke  de  Jo^^euse,  the  exercise  of  the  said  religion  shall  not  be 
allowed  in  the  city  of  Thoulouse,  the  suburbs  of  the  same,  and  with- 
in four  leagues  around  it,  nearer  than  the  cities  of  Villemur,  Carmain, 
and  Isle  in  Jourdan. 

XXIII.  Xor  shall  it  be  allowed  in  the  cities  of  Alet,  Fiac,  Auriae, 
and  Montesquieu ;  provided,  however,  there  are  any  persons  in  the 
said  cities  who  shall  desire  a  place  for  the  exercise  of  the  same,  a 
place  proper,  and  of  sure  access,  and  not  further  off  than  a  league 
from  the  said  cities,  shall  be  assigned  them  by  the  commissioners 
whom  His  Majesty  shall  appoint  for  the  execution  of  his  edict. 

XXIV.  The  said  worship  shall  be  established,  so  and  as  it  is  or- 
dered by  the  said  Edict  of  Xantes,  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  par- 
liament of  Thoulouse,  excepting,  however,  the  bailiwicks,  seneschal- 
ships,  and  their  jurisdictions,  which  have  been  brought  into  obedience 
by  the  said  Lord  Duke  de  Joyeuse,  in  which  places  the  edict  of  '77 
shall  be  in  force  :  however,  His  Majesty  means  that  the  said  exercise 
may  be  continued  in  the  places  of  the  said  bailiwicks  and  seneschal- 
ships  where  it  was  allowed  at  the  time  of  the  said  reduction,  and  that 
the  allowance  of  the  same  in  the  houses  of  fiefs,  shall  be  allowed  in 
the  said  bailiwicks  and  seneschalships,  as  is  commanded  by  said  edict. 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  367 

XXV.  The  edict  made  for  the  reduction  of  the  city  of  Dijon,  shall 
be  observed  ;  and  according  to  it,  no  other  exercise  of  religion  but 
that  of  tlie  Catholic  Apostolic  and  Roman  shall  be  allowed  in  the 
said  city,  and  the  suburbs  of  the  same,  nor  within  four  leagues 
arouMi. 

XXVL  The  edict  made  for  the  reduction  of  the  Lord  Duke  of 
Mayence,  shall  in  like  manner  be  observed,  according  to  which  there 
shall  be  no  exercise  of  the  said  religion,  pretendedly  reformed,  in 
the  city  of  Chalons,  and  within  two  leagues  of  the  envii'ons  of  Sois- 
sons,  for  the  space  of  six  years,  beginning  with  the  month  of  January, 
1596 ;  after  the  lapse  of  said  time  the  Edict  of  Xantes  shall  be  observ- 
ed there  as  in  other  places  of  this  kingdom. 

XXVII.  Persons  of  the  said  religion  are  allowed,  of  whatsoever 
quality  they  may  be,  to  live  in,  go  to,  and  return  from  the  city  of 
Lyons,  and  other  cities  and  places  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Lyons, 
notwithstanding  all  prohibitions  made  to  the  contrary  by  the  syndics 
and  aldermen  of  the  said  city  of  Lyons,  and  confirmed  by  His  Majesty. 

XXVIII.  But  one  bailiwick  shall  be  allowed  for  the  worship  of 
said  religion  in  the  entire  seneschalship  of  Poictiers,  except  those  in 
which  it  is  at  present  established ;  and  as  to  the  fiefs,  the  Edict  of 
Nantes  shall  be  followed.  The  exercise  of  said  religion  shall  be  con- 
tinued in  the  city  of  Chauvigny :  and  the  said  exercise  shall  not  be 
established  again  in  the  cities  of  Agen  and  Perigueux,  except  it  be 
done  by  the  edict  of  "77. 

XXIX.  But  two  bailiwicks  shall  be  allowed  for  the  exercise  of 
the  said  religion  in  the  entire  jurisdiction  of  Picardy,  as  has  been 
said  above,  and  the  said  places  shall  not  be  given  within  the  bounds 
of  the  bailiwicks  and  governments  reserved  by  the  edict  made  for  the 
reduction  of  Amiens,  Perone,  and  Abbeville.  However,  the  said  ex- 
ercise of  said  religion  is  allowed  in  the  houses  of  fiefs,  throughout  the 
entire  government  of  Picardy,  as  ordered  by  the  Edict  of  Xantes. 

XXX.  No  exercise  of  the  said  religion  shall  be  allowed  in  the 
city  and  suburbs  of  Sens,  and  but  one  place  of  worship  shall  be  al- 
lowed within  the  limits  of  the  bailiwick,  without  prejudice,  however, 
to  the  permission  granted  to  houses  of  fiefs,  which  shall  follow  the 
Edict  of  Nantes. 

XXXI.  Nor  in  like  manner  shall  there  be  any  exercise  of  said  re- 
ligion in  the  city  and  suburbs  of  Nantes,  and  but  one  place  for  the 
said  exercise  shall  be  allowed  within  three  leagues  of  said  city,  ex- 
cepting, however,  the  houses  of  fiefs,  according  to  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 

XXXII  His  Majesty  wishes  and  intends  that  his  said  Edict  of 


368  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

Nantes  shall  be  observed  from  this  time  forward,  in  all  that  concerns 
the  exercise  of  the  said  religion  in  places  where,  by  edicts  and  agree- 
ments made  for  the  reduction  of  any  princes,  lords,  gentlemen,  and 
Catholic  cities,  it  has  been  prohibited  provisionally  only,  and  until 
otherwise  ordered ;  and  as  to  such  as  have  a  limited  prohibition,  the 
limit  being  passed,  the  prohibition  shall  cease. 

XXXIII.  A  place  for  a  city  shall  be  granted  to  the  party  of  the 
said  religion,  within  the  authority  and  jurisdiction  of  Paris,  and  within 
five  leagues,  at  the  most,  from  said  city,  in  which  they  may  make  a 
public  worship  of  the  same. 

XXXIV.  In  all  places  where  the  public  exercise  of  said  religion  is 
allowed,  the  people  may  assemble  even  by  the  sound  of  bell,  and  per- 
form all  acts  and  functions  appertaining,  either  to  the  religious  exer- 
cises of  the  said  religion,  or  to  its  regulation  and  discipline,  such  as 
holding  consistories,  colloquies,  and  provincial  and  national  synods, 
by  permission  of  His  Majesty. 

XXXV.  The  ministers,  elders  and  deacons  of  said  religion,  shall 
not  be  constrained  to  answer  in  the  courts,  as  witnesses,  for  things 
which  have  been  revealed  in  their  consistories^  whenever  the  matter 
relates  to  censure,  unless  the  matter  relates  to  the  person  of  the  King 
or  the  preservation  of  the  State. 

XXXVI.  It  shall  be  allowed  those  living  in  the  country,  to  attend 
the  worship  of  the  same  in  cities  and  suburbs,  and  in  other  places, 
when  it  shall  be  publicly  established. 

XXXVII.  Persons  of  the  said  religion  shall  have  no  public  schools, 
except  in  cities  and  places  where  the  public  exercise  of  their  worship 
is  allowed:  and  the  provisions  which  have  been  heretofore  granted 
for  the  erection  and  support  of  colleges,  shall  be  verified  when  there 
is  need,  and  shall  have  their  full  and  entire  effect. 

XXX^  III.  Fathers  making  a  profession  of  said  religion,  are  allowed 
to  give  their  children  such  education  as  seems  best  to  them,  and  to 
substitute  one  or  several  by  testament,  codicil,  or  other  declaration 
passed  before  notaries,  or  written  and  signed  with  their  hands ;  pro- 
viding the  laws  received  in  this  kingdom,  local  ordinances  and  cus- 
toms, are  not  infringed  in  regard  to  the  payment  and  provisions  of 
tutors  and  curators. 

XXXIX.  In  regard  to  the  marriages  of  priests  and  nuns,  which 
have  been  heretofore  contracted,  his  said  Majesty  neither  wills  nor  in- 
tends, for  many  good  reasons,  that  they  shall  be  disturbed  or  mo- 
lested, and  our  proeureur-generals  shall  be  silent  with  regard  to  such 
cases,   as  well   as  other  officers.  His  said  Majesty  declares  moreover, 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  369 

that  he  intends  that  the  children  issuing  from  such  marriages  shall 
succeed  only  to  the  houses  and  lands,  the  joint  properties  acquired 
by  their  fathers  and  mothers,  and  in  default  of  said  children,  the 
nearest  relatives  shall  succeed :  and  the  wills,  donations,  and  other 
dispositions  made  or  to  be  made  by  persons  of  the  said  quality  of 
the  said  properties,  personal,  as  well  as  the  said  joint  acquisitions, 
are  declared  to  be  good  and  valid.  However,  His  Majesty  does  not 
wish  that  the  said  priests  and  nuns  shall  come  to  any  succession,  di- 
rect or  collateral ;  but  only  to  take  the  properties,  which  have  been 
or  shall  be  left  them  by  will,  donations,  except,  however,  those  of  the 
said  successions  direct  and  collateral :  and  in  regard  to  such  who  may 
have  made  a  pi-ofession  before  the  age  allowed  of  by  the  ordinances 
of  Orleans  and  Blois,  the  tenor  of  the  said  ordinances  shall  be  fol- 
lowed and  observed  in  regard  to  the  said  successions,  each  for  the 
time  they  refer  to. 

XL.  His  said  Majesty  does  not  wish  that  members  of  the  said  reli 
gion,  who  have  heretofore  contracted  or  shall  hereafter  contract  mar- 
riages within  the  third  or  fourth  degree,  shall  be  molested,  nor  the 
validity  of  such  marriages  called  in  question ;  nor  shall  the  right  of 
inheritance  of  children,  already-,  or  to  be,  born  of  such  marriages,  be 
taken  away  or  disputed :  and  as  to  marriages  which  have  been  alrea- 
dy contracted  in  the  second  degree,  or  from  the  second  to  the  third, 
among  persons  of  the  said  religion,  seeking  redress  from  his  said  Ma- 
jesty, persons  who  are  of  such  quality  and  have  contracted  marriage 
in  such  degree,  sliall  be  allowed  such  provisions  as  shall  be  necessary  - 
fur  them,  to  the  end  that  they  may  not  be  disturbed  or  molested,  nor 
the  succession  disputed  or  debated  with  their  children. 

XLL  In  order  to  judge  of  the  validity  of  marriages  made  and  con- 
tracted by  persons  of  the  said  religion,  and  to  decide  if- they  are  law- 
ful, if  the  defendant  is  of  the  said  religion,  in  this  case,  the  judge- 
royal  shall  have  jurisdiction  of  the  matter;  but  if  he  be  plaintiff  and 
the  defendant  a  Catholic,  the  jurisdiction  shall  belong  to  the  judge  of 
the  Bishop's  Court  and  the  ecclesiastical  judge,  and  if  both  parties 
are  of  the  said  religion,  the  jurisdiction  shall  belong  to  the  royal 
judges  :  His  Majesty  wills,  that  in  regard  to  such  marriages,  and  dif- 
ferences arising  therefrom,  the  ecclesiastical  and  royal  judges,  with 
the  courts  established  by  this  Edict,  shall  respectively  have  jurisdic- 
tion. 

XLH.  The  donations  and  legacies  made  and  to  be  made,  whether 
by  last  will  on  account  of  death,  or  by  the  living,  for  the  support  of 
ministers,  doctors,  scholars,  and  the  poor  of  the  said  religion  and  other 

VOL.   11. — 16* 


370  FRENCH    mOTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

charitable  acts,  shall  be  valid,  and  go  into  fall  and  entire  effect,  not 
•withstanding  all  judgments,  decrees,  and  other  things  to  the  contrar}-, 
without  prejudice,  however,  to  the  rights  of  His  Majesty  and  of  any 
other,  in  case  the  said  gifts  and  donations  fall  into  mort-main  :  and 
all  actions  and  prosecutions  necessary  for  the  enjoyment  of  the  said 
gifts,  charitable  provisions  and  other  rights,  as  well  in  judgment  as 
otherwise,  may  be  made  by  attorney  in  the  name  of  the  bodies  and 
communities  of  the  said  religion  who  may  have  an  interest  therein, 
and  if  it  is  ascertained  that  any  of  the  said  donations  have  been  here- 
tofore disposed  of  otherwise  than  is  allowed  by  the  said  article,  no 
restitution  shall  be  sought  for,  except  it  be  in  kind. 

XLIII.  His  Majesty  permits  persons  of  the  said  religion  to  come  to- 
gether before  the  judge-royal  and  by  his  authority,  to  divide  and  levy 
on  themselves  such  sums  of  money  as  shall  be  proper  and  necessary 
to  meet  the  expen^-es  of  their  synods,  and  for  the  support  of  those  who 
have  employment  in  the  exercise  of  their  said  religion,  a  state- 
ment of  which  shall  be  given  to  the  said  judge  to  be  kept  b}'^  him  :  a 
copy  of  which  shall  be  sent  every  six  months  by  the  said  judge  to  his 
said  Majesty  or  his  Chancellor ;  and  the  taxes  and  impositions  of  the 
said  moneys  shall  be  made,  all  oppositions  and  appellations  to  the  con- 
trary, notwithstanding. 

XLIV.  The  ministers  of  the  said  religion  shall  be  exempt  from 
guards  and  patrols,  and  from  lodging  of  soldiers,  and  from  assess- 
ments and  collections  of  the  land-tax,  from  the  protection,  guardian- 
ship, and  commissions  for  the  guarding  of  property  seized  by  authority 
of  justice. 

XLV.  As  it  regards  interments  of  persons  of  the  said  religion, 
made  hitherto  in  the  cemeteries  of  the  said  Catholics,  in  what  place 
or  cit}^  soever,  his  said  Majesty  commands  that  there  shall  be  no  dis- 
turbance, innovation,  or  prosecution,  and  enjoins  on  his  officers  to  see 
his  wishes  enforced.  With  regard  to  the  city  of  Paris,  besides  the  two 
cemeteries  already  granted  to  persons  of  the  said  religion,  viz., 
that  of  the  Trinity  and  that  of  St.  Germain,  a  third  place  shall  be 
given  them,  proper  for  said  interments,  in  the  suburbs  of  St.  Honore 
or  St.  Denis. 

XLYI.  The  presidents  and  councillors,  Catholics,  who  shall  be 
chosen  to  serve  in  the  chamber  ordained  for  the  parliament  of  Paris, 
shall  be  selected  from  the  body  of  officers  of  parliament. 

XLYH.  The  councillors  of  the  said  religion  claiming  to  be  re- 
formed, who  shall  serve  in  said  chamber,  shall  assist  in  the  proceed- 
ings which    shall   be  instituted   by  commissioners,   and   shall   have 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  371 

a  deliberative  voice  therein  ;  but  they  shall  have  no  part  of  the 
moneys  consigned,  except  in  case  that  by  the  order  and  prerogative 
of  their  reception,  they  have  a  right  to  assist. 

XL VIII.  The  oldest  president  of  the  mixed  chambers  shall  preside 
in  time  of  session,  and  in  his  absence  the  second,  and  a  distribution 
of  suits  shall  be  made,  conjointly  or  alternatively,  by  the  month  or 
by  the  week. 

XLIX.  In  case  of  a  vacancy  in  the  offices  which  belong  to  the 
party  of  the  said  religion,  in  the  said  chamber  of  edict,  suitable  persons 
shall  be  selected  therefor,  who  shall  have  the  attestation  of  the  synod 
or  conferences  to  which  they  belong,  that  they  are  of  the  said  religion, 
and  persons  of  property. 

L.  The  abolition  granted  to  those  of  the  said  religion  by  the  74th 
article  of  said  edict,  shall  include  the  seizures  of  all  royal  properties, 
whether  by  breaking  of  coffers  or  otherwise,  even  in  regard  to  those 
which  were  carried  off  on  the  river  Charente,  now  that  they  have  be- 
come private  property. 

LI.  The  49th  of  the  secret  articles  made  in  the  year  1577,  touch- 
ing the  city  and  archbishopricks  of  Avignon  and  county  of  Venice,  with 
the  treaty  made  at  Nimes,  shall  be  observed  according  to  their  form  and 
tenor ;  and  no  letters  of  marque  shall  be  given,  in  virtue  of  the  said 
articles  and  treaties,  except  by  letters  patent  of  the  King,  sealed  with 
the  great  seal.  However,  those  who  desire  it  may  bring  it  by  virtue 
of  the  present  article,  and  without  other  commission,  before  the  roj^al 
judges,  who  shall  inform  themselves  of  the  contraventions,  denial  of 
justice,  and  iniquity  of  judgments  proposed  by  those  who  desire  to 
obtain  said  letters,  and  shall  send  them  with  their  decision  closed  and 
sealed  to  His  Majesty,  to  be  disposed  of  as  he  shall  deem  to  be  proper 
and  just. 

LII.  His  Majesty  wishes  and  gives  consent  that  Master  Nicholas 
Grimoult  shall  be  re-established  and  maintained  in  the  title  and  pos- 
session of  the  offices  of  lieutenant-general  in  the  civil  and  criminal 
courts  of  the  bailiwicks  of  Alencon,  notwithstanding  the  resig- 
nation by  him  made  to  Master  John  Marguerit,  the  induction  to  the 
same,  and  grant  obtained  by  Master  William  Bernard  of  the  office 
of  lieutenant-general  criminal  and  civil  to  the  court  of  Exmes ;  and 
the  decrees  given  against  the  said  Marguerit  during  the  said  troubles 
at  the  privy  council,  in  the  years  1586,  1587,  and  1588,  by  which 
Master  Nicholas  Barbier  was  maintained  in  the  rights  and  preroga- 
tives of  lieutenant-general  of  the  said  bailiwick,  and  the  said  Bernard 
to  the  said  office  of  lieutenant  at  Exmes,  which  His  Majesty  has  an- 


372  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

nulled,  and  all  others  to  the  contrary.  And,  further,  his  said  Majesty 
for  certain  good  considerations,  has  given  permission  and  ordered 
that  the  said  Grimoult  shall  reimburse  within  three  months,  the  said 
Barbier  for  funds  for  the  office  of  lieutenant-general  civil  and  criminal 
of  the  Viscounty  of  Alengon,and  fifty  crowns  for  expenses,  commission- 
ing for  that  purpose  the  bailiff  du  Perche,  or  his  lieutenant  at  Mor- 
taigne ;  and  the  reimbursement  being  made,  or  the  said  Barbier  re- 
fusing or  delaying  to  receive  it,  his  said  Majesty  forbids  the  said  Bar- 
bier, as  also  the  said  Bernard,  after  knowledge  of  the  present  article, 
from  performing  the  duties  of  said  offices,  under  pain  of  being  punished 
for  false  pretences ;  and  the  said  Grimoult  is  put  in  enjoyment  of 
said  offices  and  the  rights  thereunto  appertaining ;  and  by  so  doing, 
the  suits,  pending  in  the  privy  council  of  His  Majesty,  between  the 
said  Grimoult,  Barbier,  and  Bernard,  shall  remain  terminated  aud 
suppressed,  his  said  Majesty  forbidding  the  parliaments  and  all  others 
from  taking  cognizance  thereof;  and  the  said  parties  from  continuing 
the  suit.  And  his  said  Majesty  commands  that  the  said  Bernard  be 
reimbursed  for  a  thousand  crowns  paid  to  the  board  of  escheats  for 
the  said  office,  and  sixty  crowns  for  the  marc  d'or  and  expenses,  hav- 
ing for  that  purpose,  at  the  present  time,  ordered  a  good  and  sufficient 
assignment,  the  recovery  of  which  shall  be  made  with  diligence,  and 
at  the  expense  of  the  said  Grimoult. 

LIII.  His  said  Majesty  will  write  to  his  ambassadors  to  see  to  it, 
in  respect  to  all  his  subjects,  and  especially  of  those  of  the  said  reli- 
gion professing  to  be  reformed,  that  they  shall  not  be  molested  for 
matters  of  conscience,  nor  subject  to  the  inquisition,  going,  coming, 
sojourning,  negotiating,  and  trafficking  in  all  foreign  countries,  in  al- 
liance and  amity  with  this  crown,  provided  they  give  no  offence  to 
the  police  of  the  countries  where  they  may  be. 

LIV.  His  Majesty  is  not  willing  that  there  should  be  any  inquiry 
on  account  of  the  collecting  of  impositions  levied  at  Royan,  in  virtue 
of  the  contract  made  with  the  Lord  de  Candelay,  and  others  made  in 
continuation  Ihereof,  giving  validity  to,  and  approving  of,  the  said  eon- 
tract  for  the  time  that  it  has  force  in  all  its  extent,  until  the  eighteenth 
da}^  of  May  approaching. 

LV.  The  excesses  committed  on  the  person  of  Armand  Courtiues, 
in  the  city  of  Millault,  in  the  year  1587,  and  of  Jean  Reins  and  Pierre 
Seigneuret,  with  the  procedures  made  against  them  by  the  consuls  of 
the  said  Millault,  shall  be  abolished  and  suppressed  by  the  benefit  of 
the  edict,  so  that  their  widows  and  heirs,  nor  the  procureur-generals 
of  His  Majesty,  their  substitutCvS,  nor  any  other  persons  whatever,  shall 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  373 

be  allowed  to  make  mention,  inquiry,  or  prosecution  thereof,  notwitli- 
standing  and  in  opposition  to  the  decree  given  in  the  chambers  of 
Castres,  on  the  tenth  day  of  March  last,  which  shall  be  null  and  of 
no  effect,  with  all  informations  and  procedures,  both  on  the  one  part 
and  the  other. 

LVI.  All  suits,  procedures,  sentences,  judgments,  and  decrees 
granted  against  either  the  late  Lord  De  la  None,  or  against  the  Lord 
Odet  de  la  Noue,  his  son,  since  their  detention  and  imprisonment  in 
Flanders,  in  the  month  of  March,  1680,  and  in  the  month  of  Novem- 
ber, 1584,  and  during  their  continued  occupation  in  the  wars  and  ser- 
vice of  His  Majesty,  shall  be  annulled,  and  all  that  has  followed  in 
consequence  of  them.  And  the  said  De  la  IS^oue  shall  be  received 
into  their  wards,  and  placed  in  such  state  as  they  were  in  before  the 
said  judgments  and  decrees,  in  such  manner  that  they  shall  not  be 
bound  to  refund  the  expenses,  or  despositing  the  penalties,  if  they 
have  incurred  any,  nor  shall  any  nonsuiting  or  prescription  during 
the  said  term  be  alleged  against  them. 

Done  by  the  King,  in  his  Council  at  Nantes,  on  the  second  day  of 
May,  1598.  Signed  Henry  ;  and  still  lower.  Forget;  and  the  seals  of 
the  great  seals  of  yellow  wax. 

IIL  Brevet.  On  this  the  third  day  of  April,  1598,  the  King  being  at 
Nantes,  and  wishing  to  gratify  his  subjects  of  the  said  religion  profes- 
sing to  be  reformed,  and  in  order  to  aid  them  in  some  heavy  expenses 
they  have  to  support,  has  ordered  and  does  order  for  the  future,  begin- 
ning with  the  first  day  of  the  present  month,  that  there  shall  be  placed 
in  the  hands  of  Monsieur  de  Vierse,  commissioned  by  His  Majesty  for 
that  purpose,  by  the  royal  treasurers,  each  in  its  year,  rescriptions  for 
the  sum  of  forty-five  thousand  crowns,  to  be  employed  in  certain  secret 
affairs  which  concern  them,  which  His  Majesty  does  not  wish  to  speak  of 
or  declare,  which  sum  of  forty-five  thousand  crowns  shall  be  assigned  on 
the  general  receipts  which  follow,  to  wit :  Paris,  six  thousand  crowns  ; 
Rouen,  six  thousand  crowns ;  Caen,  three  thousand  crowns;  Orleans, 
four  thousand  crowns ;  Tours,  four  thousand  crowns  ;  Poitiers,  eight 
thousand  crowns  ;  Limoges,  six  thousand  crowns  ;  Bordeaux,  eight 
thousand  crowns ;  payable  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  said  year,  in 
the  first  and  most  clear  moneys  of  the  general  receipts,  without  there 
being  any  thing  deducted  therefrom  on  account  of  any  deficiency  of 
the  tax  or  otherwise,  of  which  sum  of  45,000  crowns,  a  receipt  for 
ready  money  shall  be  given,  which  shall  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
our  treasurer,  to  serve  as  an  acquittance  for  him,  in  giving  the  said 
entire  rescriptions  for  the  said  sum  of  45,000  crowns,  upon  the  said 


374  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

communities,  at  the  beginning  of  each  year.  And  if  for  the  conve 
nience  of  the  above-mentioned  places,  a  part  of  the  said  assignations 
shall  be  required  to  be  paid  in  recettes  particulai-Iy  established,  the 
treasurer-generals  of  France  and  the  receiver-generals  of  said  commu- 
nities are  ordered  to  do  it,  by  drawing  the  said  rescriptions  from  the 
said  royal  treasurers,  which  shall  be  delivered  by  the  said  Lord  De 
Yierse  to  those  who  have  been  named  to  him  by  those  of  the  said 
religion,  at  the  beginning  of  the  yeai',  to  receive  and  pay  out  the 
moneys  which  were  to  be  received  in  virtue  of  the  same,  of  which 
they  shall  be  bound  to  report  to  the  said  Sieur  de  Vierse,  at  the  end 
of  the  year,  a  true  statement,  with  the  quittances  of  the  parties  tak- 
ing, that  His  Majesty  may  be  informed  of  the  use  of  said  mone}-;  but 
neither  the  said  Sieur  de  Vierse  nor  those  commi-'^sioned  by  those  of 
the  said  religion  shall  be  bound  to  render  an  account  in  any  chamber, 
for  which,  and  all  that  depends  on  it,  His  Majesty  has  ordered  all  let- 
ters  and  dispatches  necessary  to  be  granted,  in  virtue  of  this  present 
brevet,  that  he  has  signed  with  his  own  hand,  and  countersigned  by 
his  councillor,  in  his  council  of  state,  and  his  secretary  of  commands. 
Signed  Hexry,  and  still  lower,  De  Neuville. 

IV.  Secret  Articles.  On  this  the  last  day  of  April,  1598,  the  King 
being  at  Nantes,  wishing  to  give  all  the  contentment  possible  to  his 
subjects  of  the  religion  preferring  to  be  reformed,  with  regard  to 
the  demands  and  requests  which  have  been  made  to  him  on  their 
part,  as  to  what  they  think  to  be  necessary,  as  well  for  the  liberty 
of  their  consciences,  as  for  the  safety  of  their  persons,  fortunes,  and 
properties,  and  from  the  assurance  he  has  of  their  fidelity  and  sincere 
affection  to  his  service,  with  many  other  considerations  important  for 
the  good  and  repose  of  the  state ;  His  Majesty,  in  addition  to  what  is 
contained  in  said  edict  that  he  has  lately  resolved  on,  and  which  will 
be  published  for  the  regulation  of  what  concerns  them,  has  granted 
and  promised  to  them  that  all  the  places,  cities  and  castles,  held  by 
them  up  to  the  month  of  August  last  in  which  there  were  garrisons,  by 
the  order  which  shall  be  drawn  up  and  signed  by  His  Majesty  in  their 
guard  under  the  authority  and  obedience  of  his  said  Majesty  for  the 
space  of  eight  years,  reckoning  from  the  day  of  the  publication  of  said 
edict ;  and  in  regard  to  others  held  by  them  in  the  which  are  no  gar- 
risons, there  shall  be  neither  alteration  nor  innovation.  His  Majesty 
does  not  mean,  however,  that  the  cities  and  castles  of  Vendome  and 
Poutorson  shall  be  comprised  in  the  number  of  the  said  places  left  in 
the  care  of  those  of  the  said  religion.  Neither  is  the  city,  castle  and 
citadel  of  Aubenas  to  be  comprehended  in  the  said  number,  except  it 


AUTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS.  375 

be  now  in  the  hands  of  one  of  the  said  religion ;  this  makes  it  neces- 
sary that  it  should  be  bestowed  on  a  person  of  the  said  religion,  like 
other  cities  which  have  been  given  them.  And  as  to  Chauvigny, 
it  shall  be  restored  to  the  Bishop  of  Poitiers,  lord  of  the  said  place,  and 
the  new  fortifications  made  there  shall  be  razed  and  demolished. 
And  as  to  the  provisioning  of  the  garrisons  which  are  to  be  kept  in 
said  cities,  places  and  castles,  his  said  Majesty  grants  a  sum  of  nine 
hundred  thousand  crowns  therefor,  without  including  the  province  of 
Dauphinj^,  which  shall  be  provided  from  other  sources  than  the  said 
sum  of  nine  hundred  thousand  crowns  in  each  year:  he  promises  to 
give  orders-  good  and  valid,  upon  the  most  certain  revenues,  where 
the  said  gari'isons  shall  be  formed.  And  where  the  said  sums  are 
insufficient,  and  there  is  not  in  the  same  enough  funds,  the  surplus 
shall  be  furnished  from  the  nearest  revenues  thereto,  but  the  moneys 
shall  not  be  directed  from  the  said  revenues,  until  the  said  sum  has 
been  entirely  furnished  and  paid  out.  In  addition,  His  Majesty 
promises  and  agrees,  that  whenever  the  state  of  the  said  garrisons  is 
to  be  altered,  members  of  the  said  religion  shall  be  called  in,  to  take 
their  advice  and  to  hear  their  remonstrances,  to  the  end  that  such 
orders  shall  be  given  as  shall  be  the  most  satisfactory  to  them.  And 
if  during  the  time  of  the  said  eight  years,  there  shall  be  occasion  to 
make  any  change  in  regard  to  the  matter  whether  the  cliange  is 
sought  for  by  His  Majesty,  or  through  their  requisition,  the  same 
course  will  be  pursued  as  though  the  matter,  came  up  for  the  first 
time.  As  to  the  garrisons  of  Dauphiny,  His  Majesty,  in  preparing 
their  state,  will  take  counsel  of  the  Sieur  de  Lesdiguieres.  And  in 
case  of  vacancies  of  governors  or  captains  of  the  said  places,  His 
Majesty  wills  and  agrees  that  such  vacancies  shall  be  filled  by  persons 
of  the  said  religion,  properly  attested  by  the  colloquies  to  which  they 
belong,  as  being  members  of  the  said  religion  and  persons  of  standing. 
He  will  be  satisfied,  however,  if  the  person  who  is  to  be  the  candidate 
by  the  brevet,  which  is  to  be  granted,  shall  be  bound  previous  to 
obtaining  the  situation,  to  bring  tlie  attestation  of  the  colloquy  to 
which  he  belongs,  which  the  said  colloquy  shall  be  bound  to  give  him 
promptly,  and  without  any  delay,  or  in  case  of  refusal,  shall  present 
to  his  said  Majesty  the  causes  of  the  delay.  And  the  said  term  of 
eight  years  being  passed,  His  Majesty  shall  be  quit  of  his  promise  in 
reference  to  said  cities,  and  of  his  obligations  to  remit  them :  how- 
ever, he  promises  and  agrees,  that  if  the  said  cities  continue,  after 
that  time,  to  have  garrisons  or  a  governor  to  command  over  them, 
that  he   will  not  dispossess  the  person  in  command,  in  order  to  give 


376  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

the  place  to  anothe?-.  So,  in  like  manner,  he  declares  his  intention,  as 
well  during  the  s:iid  eight  years  as  thereafter,  to  gratify  those  of  the 
said  religion,  and  to  give  them  a  share  of  the  offices,  governments  and 
other  honors,  to  be  distributed,  and  to  dispense  them  impartially  and 
without  exception  according  to  the  quality  and  merit  of  the  persons, 
as  well  as  to  his  other  Catholic  subjects;  with  the  exception  that  the 
cities  and  places,  which  shall  hereafter  be  placed  under  their  charge, 
other  than  those  at  present  in  their  hands,  may  be  taken  in  conse- 
quence of  being  heretofore  well  affected  to  the  party  of  the  said 
religion.  And,  further,  his  said  Majesty  grants  that  such  persons  as 
have  been  selected  by  the  party  of  the  said  religion  to  guard  the 
magazines,  munitions,  powder  and  cannon  of  said  cities,  or  such  as 
shall  be  apj^ointed  to  guard  them,  shall  be  continued  in  such  charges, 
by  taking  commissions  from  the  Grand  Master  of  Artillery  and  Com- 
missioner General.  Which  letters  shall  be  given  them  gratuitousl}^, 
placing  in  their  hands,  signed  in  good  and  due  form,  a  regular 
statement  of  the  said  magazines,  munitions,  powder  and  cannon,  but 
they  shall  not  on  account  of  said  commissions,  claim  any  immunities 
or  privileges. 

And  inasmuch  as  the  members  of  said  religion  have  implored 
His  Majesty  to  give  a  clear  understanding  of  what  he  has  been  pleas- 
ed to  ordain  in  regard  to  the  exercise  of  said  religion  in  the  city  of 
Metz,  as  it  is  not  clearly  expressed  in  his  edict  and  secret  articles,  His 
Majesty  declares  that  he  has  granted  letters  patent,  in  which  it  is 
ordered :  That  the  temple  hitherto  built  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
same  shall  be  restored  to  them,  in  order  that  they  may  carry  away 
the  materials,  or  otherwise  dispose  of  them  as  they  shall  think  best ; 
but  there  shall  be  no  preaching  or  other  religious  exercise  therein, 
yet  nevertheless  a  proper  place  shall  be  furnished  within  the  inclo- 
sure  of  the  city,  where  they  can  have  public  religious  services,  with- 
out having  it  expressly  ordered  by  this  edict.  His  Majesty  also 
agrees,  that  notwithstanding  the  prohibition  of  the  said  religion  at 
the  court  and  its  suite,  the  dukes,  peers  of  France,  officers  of  the 
crown,  marquises,  counts,  governors,  and  lieutenant-generals,  field- 
marshals,  and  captains  of  the  guard  of  his  said  Majesty,  who  shall  be 
of  his  suite,  shall  be  unmolested  for  what  is  done  in  their  houses,  pro- 
vided it  be  done  in  their  family  privately,  with  closed  doors,  and 
without  loud  singing,  or  the  doing  of  any  thing  to  make  known  that 
the  exercise  of  the  said  religion  is  going  on;  and  if  his  said  Majesty 
shall  remain  more  than  three  days  in  the  cities  and  places  where  the 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  377 

said  exercise  is  allowed,  the  said  exercise  after  the  expiration  of  the 
said  time  shall  be  continued  as  before  his  arrival.  His  Majesty  declares 
that  in  the  present  posture  of  his  affairs,  he  is  unable  to  comprehend 
his  countries  beyond  the  mountains,  Brest  and  Barcelona,  in  the  per- 
mission by  him  granted  for  the  exercise  of  the  said  religion,  profes- 
sedly reformed.     His  Majesty  promises,  however,  that  when  the  said 
countries  are  reduced  to  his  authority,  his  subjects  in  the  same  as  it 
regards  religion  and  other  points  granted  by  his  edict,  shall  be  plac- 
ed upon  the  same  footing  as  his  other  subjects,  notwithstanding  what 
is  ordered  by  said  edict,  and  yet  they  shall  be  maintained  in  the 
same  state  as  at  present.     His  Majesty  allows  that  those  persons  of 
the  said  religion,  professing  to  be  reformed,  who  shall  be  chosen  for 
the  offices  of  presidents  and  councillors,  created  to  serve  in  the  cham- 
bers ordered  anew  by  this  edict,  shall  take  the  said  offices  without 
fee,  for  the  first  time,  upon  the  statement  which  shall  be  presented 
to  His  Majesty  by  the  deputies  of  the  Assembly  of  Chattellerault,  and 
also  the  substitutes  of  our  attorney-generals,  created  by  the  same 
edict   in    the   chamber   of  Bourdeux,  and   until   the   incorporation 
of  the  said  chamber  of  Bourdeaux,  and  of  that  of  Thoulonse  with  the 
said  parliaments,  the  said  substitutes  shall  fill  the  offices  of  council- 
lors in  the  same  also  gratuitously.     His  Majesty  invests  the  honora- 
ble Francis  Pitou  with  the  office  of  substitute  of  the  attorney-general 
in  the  court  of  the  parliament  of  Paris ;  and  for  these  ends  a  new 
establishment  of  the  office  shall  be  made ;  and  on  the  death  of  the 
said  Pitou,  a  successor  to  him  shall  be   appointed  of  the  said  reli- 
gion.    And  in  case  of  vacancy  by  death  of  the  two  officers  of  masters 
of  requests  of  the  royal  palace,  the  first  vacancies  shall  be  filled  by 
His  Majesty  from  persons  of  the  said  religion,  whom  His  Majesty  shall 
see  to  be  proper  and  capable  for  the  good  of  the  state,  and  at  the 
expense  of  the  Board  of  Escheats.      Nevertheless,    it  shall   be   or- 
dered that  in  each  quarter  there  shall  be  two  masters  of  requests, 
whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  report  the  petitions  of  persons  of  the  said 
relio-ion.     Besides,  His  Majesty  permits  the  deputies  of  the  said  reli- 
gion assembled  in  the  said  city  of  Chatellerault,  to  remain  together 
to  the  number  often  in  the  city  of  Saumur,  to  see  to  the  execution  of  his 
said  edict,  until  it  shall  be  verified  in  his  court  of  parliament  of  Paris. 
Notwithstanding,  they  are  commanded  by  the  said  edict  to  separate 
promptly ;  however,  they  shall  not  in  the  name  of  the  said  assembly 
make  any  new  demands,  nor  meddle  by  recommendation  with  the  said 
execution,  deputation,   and  introduction  of  the  commissioners,  who 
shall  be  ordered  for  that  purpose.   And  for  all  the  above,  His  Majesty 


378  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

gives  his  faith  and  word  by  the  present  brevet,  which  he  has  signed 
with  his  own  hand,  and  countersigned  bj  us,  his  secretaries  of  state, 
willing  that  this  brevet  should  have  the  same  value  and  effect  as  if 
its  contents  were  comprised  in  an-  edict  verified  in  his  comets  of  par- 
liament :  Those  of  the  said  religion  being  content,  for  the  good  of  his 
service  and  the  state  of  his  affairs,  not  to  ui-ge  that  this  ordinance  be 
put  in  a  form  more  authentic,  bestowing  this  confidence  on  the  word 
and  goodness  of  His  Majesty,  that  he  will  allow  them  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  the  same.  Having,  for  that  purpose,  given  orders  that  all 
papers  and  dispatches  necessary  to  the  execution  of  the  above  shall 
be  granted  to  them.  (Signed)         Henry,  and  lower,  Forget. 


Vol.  I.,  No.  2,  pp.   100-101. 

We  give  below  the  ordinance  of  Louis  XIV.  revoking  the 
edict  of  his  grandfather.  It  is  but  little  known  as  to  the 
whole  of  its  dispositions,  and  consequently  merits  a  repro- 
duction in  this  work. 

Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 

Louis,  Ac.  The  King  Henry  the  Great,  our  grandfather  of  gloi'i- 
0U3  memory,  wishing  that  the  peace  he  had  procured  for  his  subjects 
after  the  great  losses  they  had  suffered  by  the  civil  and  foreign 
wars,  should  not  be  disturbed  on  account  of  the  said  R.  P.  R.  (Reli- 
gion Pretendedly  Reformed)  as  had  happened  in  the  reigns  of  the  kings 
his  predecessors,  did,  by  his  edict  given  at  Nantes,  in  the  month  of 
April,  1598,  regulate  the  conduct  to  be  pursued  towards  those  of  the 
said  religion,  the  places  where  they  could  exercise  it,  established 
extraordinary  judges  to  administer  justice  to  them,  and  in  fine,  pro- 
vided by  private  articles  for  all  which  might  be  deemed  necessary 
to  maintain  tranquillity  in  his  kingdom,  and  to  diminish  the  aversion 
between  persons  of  both  religions ;  in  fine,  that  he  might  be  in  a  bet- 
ter state  to  work,  as  he  had  resolved  to  do,  to  reunite  to  the  church 
those  who  had  so  easily  withdrawn  from  it.  And  as  the  intention  of 
the  King  our  said  grandfather  was  not  effected  on  account  of  his  sud- 
den death,  and  as  the  execution  of  the  said  edict  was  even  interrupt- 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  379 

ed  during  the  minority  of  the  late  King,  our  very  honored  lord  and 
father  of  glorious  memory,  by  new  enterprises  of  the  said   R.  P.  R., 
which  gave  occasion  to  deprive  them  of  divers  advantages  which  had 
been  granted  them  by  the  said  edict.     However,  the  King  our  said 
late  lord  and  father,  using  his  usual  clemency,  granted  them  a  new 
edict  at  Nismes,  in  the  month  of  July,  1629,  by  means  of  which  tran- 
quillity being  again  established,  and  the  said  late  King  being  animat- 
ed with  the  same  zeal  for  i-eligion  as  the  King  our  late  grandfather, 
resolved  to  profit  by  this  repose  to  attempt  the  execution  of  his  pious 
design ;  but  the  foreign  wars  happening  a  few  years  after,  so  that 
from  1635  till  the  truce  concluded  in  the  year  1684  with  the  Princes 
of  Europe,  the  kingdom  being  scarcely  a  moment  free  from  agitation, 
it   was    impossible  to   do    any   thing   for   the     advantage    of   reli- 
gipn   except   to   diminish    the   number   of  exercises   of  the   R.  P. 
R.    by  the   interdiction   of  such   as  were  found    to  be   prejudicial 
to  the    provisions    of  the   edicts    and   by   the    suppression  of  the 
mixed    chambers,    whose    erection    had    been    made    only    provi- 
sionally.     God   having   at    length    permitted    our  people  to  enjoy 
perfect   repose,    and   we   ourselves    not   being  occupied   with    the 
cares   of  protecting   them  against  our  enemies,  having   it    in  our 
power  to  take  advantage  of  this  truce  to  bestow  our  entire  applica- 
tion in  order  to  find  the  means  of  succeeding  in  the  designs  of  the 
Kings  our  said  grandfather  and  father,  into  the  which  we  have  entered 
from  our  first  accession  to  the  crown.    We  see  now  with  the  just  gra- 
titude we  owe  to  God,  that  our  pains  have  the  end  which  we  pro- 
posed, since  the  better  and  larger  portion  of  our  .subjects  of  the  said 
R.  P.  R.  have  embraced  the  Catholic  religion  :  and  inasmuch  as  the 
execution  of  the  said  edict,  and  of  all  that  has  been  ordered  in  favor 
of  the  said  R.  P.  R.  has  been  useless,  we  have  judged  that  we  could 
do  nothing  better  to  efface  entirely  the  memory  of  the  troubles,  of 
the  confusion  and  the  misfortunes  that  the  progress  of  this  false  reli- 
gion has  caused  in   our  kingdom,  and  which  have  given   room  for 
the  said  edict,  and  to  so  many  other  edicts  and  declarations  which 
have  preceded  or  been  made  in  consequence  of  it,  than  to  revoke  en- 
tirely the  Edict  of  N'antes,  and  the  special  articles  granted  in  conse- 
quence of  it  and  all  that  has  been  done  in  favor  of  the  said  religion. 

I.  Be  it  known,  that  we  for  these  and  other  causes  moving  us 
thereto,  and  of  our  certain  knowledge,  full  power  and  royal  authority, 
have  by  this  present  edict  suppressed  and  revoked,  do  suppress  and 
revoke  the  edict  of  the  King  our  said  grandfather,  given  at  Nantes  in 
the  month  of  April,  1598,  in  its  whole  extent,  with  the  particular  ar- 


380  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

tides  decreed  the  2d  of  May  following,  and  the  letters  patent  granted 
from  them,  and  the  edict  given  at  Nismesin  the  month  of  July,  1629, 
declaring  them  null  and  void,  with  all  the  concessions  made  as  well 
by  them  as  by  other  edicts,  declarations  and  decrees  made  to  people 
of  the  said  R.  P.  R.,  of  what  nature  soever  they  may  be,  which  shall 
remain  in  like  manner  as  though  they  had  not  been :  and  in  conse- 
quence, we  will,  and  it  pleases  us  that  all  the  temples  of  those  of  the 
said  R.  R  R.,  situated  within  our  kingdom,  countries,  lands,  and  seig- 
neuries,  under  our  authority,  shall  be  immediately  destroyed. 

II.  We  forbid  our  subjects  of  the  R.  P,  R.  from  assembling  again 
for  the  exercise  of  said  religion  in  any  other  place  or  private  liouse, 
under  any  pretext  whatever,  even  if  the  said  exercises  have  been  al- 
lowed by  decrees  of  our  council. 

III.  We  forbid  in  like  manner  all  lords  of  whatever  quality  from 
the  exercise  thereof  in  their  houses  and  fiefs,  of  what  quality  soever  the 
fiefs  may  be,  under  pain,  against  all  our  subjects  who  shall  take  part 
in  the  said  exercise,  of  confiscation  of  body  and  goods. 

IV.  We  command  all  ministers  of  said  R.  P.  R.,  who  will  not  be 
converted  to,  and  embrace,  the  R.  C.  A.  and  R.  (Roman  Catholic,  and 
Apostolic,  and  Roman),  to  leave  our  kingdom  and  lands  imder  our 
authority,  within  fifteen  days  after  the  publication  of  our  present 
edict,  without  making  any  delay,  nor,  during  the  said  time  of  fifteen 
days,  shall  they  preach,  exhort,  or  have  any  other  exercise  thereof, 
under  penalty  of  the  galleys. 

V.  We  will  that  those  said  ministers,  who  shall  be  converted, 
shall  continue  to  have,  during  their  lives,  and  their  widows  after 
their  decease,  the  same  exemptions  from  taxes,  and  from  the  lodging 
of  soldiers,  which  they  have  enjoyed  whilst  they  were  ministers, 
and  further,  we  will  pay  to  the  said  ministers,  during  their  lifetime, 
a  pension  one  third  larger  than  their  salaries  as  ministers,  a  moiety 
of  which  shall  be  allowed  to  their  widows  after  their  decease,  as 
long  as  they  remain  in  a  state  of  widowhood. 

VI.  If  any  of  the  said  ministers  shall  desire  to  become  lawyers, 
or  to  take  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Law,  we  will  and  intend  that  they 
shall  dispense  with  the  three  years  of  study  prescribed  by  our  de- 
clarations; and  having  passed  the  usual  examinations,  and  by  them 
shown  to  be  capable,  they  shall  be  received  as  doctors  by  paying 
only  a  lialf  of  the  fees  usually  paid  for  that  end  at  each  university. 

VII.  We  forbid  private  schools  for  the  instruction  of  the  children 
of  the  said  R.  P.  R.,  and,  generally,  all  things  whatever,  which  can 
be  considered  a  concession,  whatever  it  may  be,  in  favor  of  said  re- 
ligion. 


UTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS.  :381 

VIII.  With  regard  to  the  children  of  persons  of  the  said  R.  P.  R., 
born  hereafter,  we  order  that  they  shall  for  the  future  be  baptized 
by  the  parish  pi-iest.  We  enjoin  on  fathers  and  mothers  to  send 
them  to  church  for  that  purpose,  under  pain  of  a  penalty  of  five 
hundred  livres ;  and  the  children  afterwards  shall  be  educated  in  the 
principles  of  the  R.  C.  A.  and  R.,  of  which  we  expressly  order  our 
judges  to  see  to  the  execution. 

IX.  And,  as  a  mark  of  our  clemency  towards  our  subjects  of  the  said 
R.  P.  R.,  who  may  have  withdrawn  from  our  kingdom,  countries  and 
possessions,  previous  to  the  publication  of  our  present  edict.  We  will 
and  command  that,  in  case  they  shall  return  within  four  months 
from  the  day  of  said  publication,  they  can,  and  shall  be  allowed  to 
enter  on  the  possession  of  their  property,  and  to  enjoy  the  same  as 
fully  as  though  they  had  always  remained  here  ;  on  the  contrary, 
the  properties  of  those  who  shall  not  return  within  the  said  four 
months,  in  our  kingdom,  or  countries  and  lands  under  our  authoi-ity, 
which  they  have  abandoned,  shall  remain  and  be  confiscated  in  con- 
sequence of  our  declaration  of  the  2<0th  of  August  last. 

X.  We  make  very  express  and  repeated  prohibitions  to  all  our 
subjects  of  the  said  R.  P.  R.  from  departing,  them,  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren fi'om  our  said  kingdom,  countries  and  lands  under  oxir  authority, 
or  from  carrying  away  their  properties  and  effects,  under  pain,  for 
the  men  of  the  galleys,  and  of  confiscation  of  body  and  goods  for 
the  women. 

XL  We  will  and  understand  that  the  declarations  made  against 
relapses  shall  be  execiited  according  to  their  form  and  tenor. 

With  regard  to  the  remainder  of  the  said  R.  P.  R.,  until  it  shaU 
please  God  to  enlighten  them,  as  he  has  the  rest,  they  shall  continue 
to  dwell  in  the  cities  and  places  of  our  kingdom,  countries  and  lands 
under  our  authority,  and  may  continue  their  business,  and  enjoy 
the  possession  of  their  property  without  being  troubled  or  disturbed 
under  pretext  of  the  said  R.  P.  R.,  on  condition,  as  has  been  said,  of 
having  no  exercise,  nor  assembling  under  pretext  of  prayer,  or  of 
worship  of  said  religion,  of  any  nature  whatever,  under  the  above- 
mentioned  penalties  of  body  and  goods. 

Given  at  Fontainebleau,  in  the  month  of  October,  1685,  and  of 
our  reign  the  forty-third.  Signed  Louis.  And  upon  the  fold  the  signa- 
ture of  Le  Tellier,  and  upon  the  side,  By  the  king,  Colbert.  And 
sealed  with  the  great  seal  of  green  wax,  upon  a  ground  of  red  and 
green  silk. 

Enregistered,  &c.,  signed  De  La  Baune. 


382  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 


YoL  L,  No.  3,  pp.   112-203. 

Some  passages  from  the  reports  sent  to  the  goyernment 
by  the  intendants  of  districts  in  1698,  may,  perhaps,  be  in- 
teresting, and  from  which  we  have  taken  extracts  to  verify 
the  whole  amount  of  emigration  in  some  cities,  and  the  loss 
resulting  therefrom  to  industry  and  commerce. 


Of  the  number  of  Huguenots  who  departed  from,  oi  remained  within, 
the  jurisdiction  of  Paris. 

Previous  to  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  IS'antes,  there  were 
within  the  limits  of  Paris  1933  families  of  Huguenots  ;  1202  of  these 
families  have  since  departed,  and  734  remained.  Below  is  given  a 
detailed  statement  of  districts  of  those  who  have  remained  and  been 
converted ;  some  of  them  are  so  in  good  faith,  and  live  as  good 
Christians,  the  remaining  and  most  numerous  portion  continue  their 
manner  of  living,  and  make  no  apparent  exercise  of  religion. 

ELECTIONS. 

Paris.  In  the  district  of  Paris,  there  is  a  temple  at  Charenton, 
where  the  members  of  the  R.  P.  P.  of  Paris  and  its  environs  are  in 
the  habit  of  going  on  Sunday.  It  was  forbidden  by  order  of  the  King, 
in  the  year  1688.  There  was  another  temple  at  Yilliers-le-Bel,  where 
those  persons  of  the  said  religion  dwelling  in  the  neighboring  parishes 
attended  worship  ;  it  was  interdicted  two  years  before. 

Senlis.  There  were  32  Huguenot  families  in  the  district.  Those 
having  property  went  to  Holland ;  48  families  went  away,  and  14 
remained,  to  wit :  In  the  city  of  Senlis,  3  families ;  at  Verneuil,  3 
families ;  at  Brenouille,  *1  families ;  and  at  Belle  Eglise,  1  family. 

Compiigne. — ^There  were  62  families  in  the  district ;  38  families 
went  away,  24  remained,  amounting  to  the  number  of  98  persons, 
men,  women,  and  children. 

Bcav,vais.  "Within  ten  years  this  place  had  48  families,  making  168 
persons  ;  22  families  went  away,  and  26  remained,  amounting  to  85 
persons ;  the  rest  v.-ent  to  Holland  and  to  England. 


AUTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS.  383 

Pontoise,  There  were  but  two  families  of  Huguenots  in  the  dis- 
trict, which  were  two  noble  families,  who  made  abjuration,  and  have 
remained,  to  wit:  MM.  d'Aiguillon,  of  Real,  and  the  Lad}-  de  Bre- 
court,  with  the  young  ladies,  her  daughters. 

Mafites.  At  the  time  of  the  revocation  of  j^antes,  there  were  in  the 
district  80  families  of  Huguenots,  none  of  them  noble  and  of  consi- 
deration :  in  the  city  of  Mantes  none  ;  74  families  went  away  ;  6  re- 
mained, to  the  number  of  20  persons,  who  live,  as  before,  without  any 
exercise  of  their  religion.     They  have  a  meeting-house  in  the  district. 

Montfort.  There  has  never  been  but  few  Huguenots  in  the  district 
— ^but  12  families;  6  families  have  departed,  and  as  many  remained. 
They  had  a  meeting-house  at  Houdan,  where  persons  of  that  religion 
came  from  the  distance  of  4  or  5  leagues. 

Dreux.  There  are  no  Huguenots  in  the  city  of  Dreux ;  in  the  par- 
ishes of  the  district  there  are  104  families,  amounting  to  440  per- 
sons ;  48  families  have  departed,  and  86  remained,  numbering  360 
persons. 

Etaynpes.  None  either  in  city  or  district. 

Melun.  There  was  a  temple  at  Bois-le-Roy  in  the  district,  where 
the  Huguenots  of  the  neighborhood  went.  But  6  families  in  the  dis- 
trict, who  have  withdrawn,  leaving  none  behind. 

Nemours.  There  were  but  5  families  of  Huguenots  in  the  district, 
all  of  whom  have  been  converted,  and  perform  well  their  duty  as 
Christians,  with  the  exception  of  Sieur  de  Francliou,  his  wife  and  his 
daughter,  and  the  Dame  de  Chammoreau,  who  make  no  exercise  of  it. 

Meaux.  There  were  in  the  district  about  1500  families  of  Huguenots, 
1000  of  whom  have  departed,  and  500  remain,  numbering  2,300  per- 
sons, of  whom  the  greater  portion  live  as  they  did  before  their  con- 
version. 

Rosoy.  There  was  a  temple  at  Morcerf,  which  the  members  of  the 
R.  P.  R.  of  this  and  the  neighboring  districts  frequented.  There  were 
but  4  families  of  Huguenots  in  the  parish  of  Lumigny  in  this  district, 
and  as  many  in  that  of  Morcerf,  where  the  temple  was  situated.  They 
all  retired,  and  none  remain. 

Coulommiers.  The  exercise  of  the  R.  R  R.  was  made  in  the  castle 
of  Chalandos,  belonging  to  Sieur  Lhuillier.  Chalandos  is  a  hamlet  be- 
longing to  the  parish  of  St.  Simeon.  This  was  the  place  of  assembling 
for  the  Huguenots  of  the  neighborhood.  The  Sieur  Lhuillier  is  a 
gentleman  of  the  family  of  Lhuillier  of  Coquelles,  one  of  whom  was 
president  of  the  chamber  of  accounts  of  King  Henry  the  Fourth.  He 
appears  to  be  perfectly  converted.     He  performs  his  duties  as  a  good 


384  FRENCH   PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

Catholic.  His  mother  and  two  sisters  remain  in  the  chateau,  who 
have  the  reputation  of  being  good  Huguenots.  He  has  a  cousin-ger- 
nian,  named  Lhuillier  du  Breuil,  and  the  sister  of  the  said  Breuil, 
wlio  have  gone  to  Holland.  There  are  two  fomilies  also  de  Coulom- 
miers  who  have  gone.  There  remains  yet,  to  wit :  In  the  province  of 
Chauffin,  2  families ;  in  St.  Simeon  and  Maupertuis,  5  families. 

Provins.  There  are  no  Huguenots  in  the  city  of  Provins ;  in  the 
district  there  are  but  the  Dame  and  two  Misses  de  Flaix  and  the  Miss 
Changuyon,  their  cousin,  with  two  domestics.  The  Sieur  de  Flaix 
and  his  son  have  been  out  of  the  Kingdom  &ve  years. 

Nogent.  None  in  the  city  or  district. 

Montereau.  None  in  the  city  or  district. 

Sens.  There  were  only  the  single  family  De  Brannay,  of  whom 
there  remains  but  three  daughters,  very  old,  who  abjured  about 
twelve  years  ago. 

Joigny.  There  are  no  Huguenots  in  the  city  of  Joigny ;  in  the  dis- 
trict there  is  only  a  single  family  in  the  parish  of  St.  Martin  d'Ordon, 
consisting  of  six  persons ;  the  mother  and  two  daughters  have  ab- 
jured. 

St.  Florentin.  There  were  but  two  Huguenot  families  in  the  dis- 
trict, who  lived  at  Boeurs  ;  they  are  converts ;  the  heads  of  the  fami- 
lies are  dead ;  the  children  have  remained,  and  are  good  Catholics. 

Tonnerre.  There  is  in  the  district  but  a  single  Huguenot  family, 
named  Lamas ;  there  are  two  parishes,  Cuzy  and  Argenteuil ;  they 
are  all  converts,  and  make  no  exercise  of  our  religion. 

Vezelay.  There  were  in  the  district  53  Huguenot  families ;  8  have 
departed;  45  remained,  amounting  to  250  persons  of  both  sexes. 
Those  who  remain  have  abjured.  They  make,  for  the  most  part,  no 
exercise  of  the  Catholic  religion. 

See  French  Manuscripts  of  the  Imperial  Library,  Mortemart  Collection,  No.  88. 

II. 
Extract  from  the  Report  for  the  Division  of  Rochelle. 

His  Majesty  has  labored  with  an  inconceivable  zeal  and  ardor  for 
the  preservation  of  his  subjects  and  has  forgotten  nothing  which  de- 
pended on  his  care  for  their  instruction,  and  has  made  use  of  every 
tiling :  missions,  vicars,  masters  and  mistresses  of  schools,  convents 
for  young  girls  to  retire  to,  pensions  for  ministers,  officers  and  others 
who  have  done  their  duty  as  Catholics,  prisons  for  the  obstinate  and 
scandalous,  favors  for  those  whose  example  might  produce  good  ef- 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  385 

fects.  We  see  with  chagrin,  that  those  who  remain  in  their  houses 
find  insurmountable  difficulties  from  the  cures  when  they  desire  to 
marry.  The  bishoj^s  have  been  unable  up  to  this  time  to  remedy 
this  evil,  and  the  royal  authority  alone  can  place  these  persons  in  a 
state  to  have  successors.  The  bishops  are  full  of  zeal  for  the  conver- 
sion of  those  in  their  dioceses,  but  they  are  not  supported  by  the 
other  ecclesiastics  and  by  the  cures,  the  greater  part  of  whom  are  very 
ignorant,  very  selfish,  cheats,  and  little  given  to  charitv 

*  *  ^  *  **  /^fr 

It  was  an  important  work  to  undertake  to  reform  the  disorders 
in  religion ;  but  it  is  not  time  yet  to  hope  that  it  is  accomplished.  On 
the  contrary,  we  see  with  grief  that  a  great  number  of  persons  of 
every  age  and  sex  have  abandoned  their  country,  and  gone  to  foreign 
lands,  whither  they  have  carried  their  best  effects. 

Collection  Mortemart,  No.  96. 

III. 

Extract  from  the  Report  of  the  District  of  Caen. 
The  ordinary  commerce  of  the  district  of  Caen  consists  of  cloths 
and  stuffs  manufactured  principally  at  Vire,  Falaise,  Argentan.  This 
trade  has  considerably  diminished  since  the  year  1685,  because  the 
greater  part  of  the  merchants,  who  were  Huguenots,  and  the  richest, 
have  gone  to  foreign  countries,  so  that  those  who  remain  fire  not  able 
to  re-establish  that  trade.  There  was  at  St.  Lo  about  800  Huguenots, 
the  departure  of  about  one  half  of  whom  has  been  somewhat  injurious. 
There  were  but  few  Huguenots  in  the  district  of  Avranches.  The  city 
of  Pontorson  and  the  town  of  Ducehave  been  infected  by  the  protection 
given  them  by  the  Counts  De  Lorge,  De  Montgommery,  and  the  Count 
de  Duce  of  the  same  family.  The  Countess  de  Duce  has  retired  to 
London.  Madame  de  Fontenay,  by  the  permission  of  the  court,  and 
some  Huguenots  in  small  number,  have  retired  to  Holland.  There  was 
in  the  district  of  Mortain  about  300  of  the  reformed,  more  than  half 
of  whom  have  retired  to  Holland  or  England. 

.,  Fonds  Mortemart  Collections,  No.  98. 

IV  . 

Extract  from  the  Report  of  Baville  on  Languedoc. 
The  ancient  Catholic  families,  by  the  heads  of  families,  number 
4046 ;  the  lately  converted  families,  by  heads   of  families,  number 
440;  the  ancient  Catholic  families  number  1,238,927   persons;  the 
VOL.   II — 17 


386  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

recently  converted,  198,483— Total,  1,441,896.  Of  the  440  families 
of  gentlemen  lately  converted,  comprised  iu  this  table  or  statement, 
there  are  109  which  have  no  children,  or  which  have  only  daughters, 
so  that  there  will  be  that  number  of  families  extinct  in  a  few  years. 
There  is  no  house  here  more  distinguished  by  its  birth  than  that  of 
M.  le  Mai-quis  de  Malause,  in  the  diocese  of  Castres.  He  appears  very 
Catholic,  and  has  espoused  for  his  first  and  second  wives  Catholic 
ladies  of  old  families,  Mademoiselles  de  Chaumont  and  Montmouton. 
Of  all  these  gentlemen,  there  are  but  15  who  have  from  6,000  to 
12,000  livres  income  ;  the  remainder  have  less,  and  the  larger  portion 
not  a  third  of  that  sum.  It  is  easy  to  see  from  this  statement  that 
there  is  no  one  among  them  who  can  make  a  great  figure,  or  who 
could  become  the  chief  of  a  party.  There  is  a  large  number  of  very 
wealthy  merchants ;  but  they  will  never  do  any  thing  to  interfere 
with  their  trade.  Generally  speaking,  all  of  the  new  converts  are 
in  better  circumstances,  more  laborious  and  industrious  than  the  an- 
cient Catholics  of  the  province.  The  disposition  of  these  new  con- 
verts was,  after  the  general  conversion  in  1685,  to  waver  some  time 
between  their  property  and  their  religion.  Their  attachment  to  their 
property  prevailed,  and  they  took  the  i-esolution  of  remaining  in  the 
kingdom.  Some  of  them  departed  ;  but  after  an  exact  search,  I  have 
found  only  4,000  who  took  that  resolution,  of  which  number  600  have 
returned.  Of  those  who  remained  there  are  but  few  who  are  good 
Catholics  ;  they  preserve  almost  all  in  their  hearts  their  first  religion. 
They  have  conceived  false  hopes  during  the  last  war,  which  encour- 
aged them.  They  persuaded  themselves  that  events  were  about  to 
happen,  which  would  compel  the  rebuilding  of  their  temples.  The 
French  ministers,  who  have  withdrawn  to  foreign  countries,  with 
whom  they  have  had  correspondence,  have  not  failed  to  uphold  them 
in  this  view,  and  dissuade  them  from  all  the  exercises  of  our  religion, 
and  to  hold  out  to  them  a  change.  They  have  been  waiting  there 
without  coming  to  a  determination,  during  the  war,  having  secret 
prayers  among  themselves,  and  withdrawing  by  their  natural  inclina- 
tion, by  the  prejudices  of  their  birth,  from  all  that  might  carry  them 
to  Catholicism.  They  have  attempted  on  several  occasions,  at  Ce- 
vennes  and  at  Vivarais,  insurrections,  by  assemblies,  by  preachers, 
and  by  ministers  sent  from  foreign  countries.  They  have  even  as- 
sassinated six  priests  at  Cevennes,  and  they  sent  some  fanatics,  in 
1689,  to  Vivarais,  whose  excesses  might  have  caused  fear,  if  the  fire 
kindled  by  them  had  not  been  extinguished  in  the  beginning.  But  all 
these  assemblies  were  crushed  and  destroyed  as  soon  as  formed,  the 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  387 

authors  of  these  murders  arrested  and  put  to  death,  and  all  having 
part  in  that  evil  design  punished.  All  these  proceedings  were  capa- 
ble of  causing  a  revolt  among  the  mountainous  pax'ts  of  the  country, 
nearly  all  inhabited  by  the  recent  converts ;  but  no  such  consequences 
followed,  and  all  of  them  possessed  of  ever  so  little  sense  have  seen 
that  it  was  much  better  to  await  quietly  the  events  of  the  war,  than 
to  hazard  their  fortunes.  Two  principal  means  were  made  use  of  to 
take  away  all  hope  of  success.  The  first  by  making  more  than  a  hun- 
dred roads  across  the  Cevennes  and  the  province  of  Vivarais,  and 
that  so  successfully,  that  all  kinds  of  carriages  can  go  now  very  readily 
in  places  hitherto  deemed  inaccessible,  and  there  is  no  point  where 
cannon  and  bombs  cannot  be  carried,  if  necessary.  JSTothing  rendered 
them  more  insolent  and  more  disposed  to  revolt  than  the  notion  that 
their  country  was  inaccessible.  The  second  means  has  been  to  pre- 
pare and  place  in  order  the  forces  of  the  Catholics  by  birth,  whose 
number  in  the  whole  of  Languedoc  is  much  larger  than  that  of  the 
new  converts.  A  commencement  has  been  made  by  raising  eight 
regiments  of  infantry,  paid  by  the  province.  The  King  having  use 
for  their  services  elsewhere,  has  formed  52  regiments  more  of  militia, 
not  to  be  paid,  but  always  ready  to  depart  at  the  first  order.  The 
regiments  are  composed  of  8,  or  10,  or  12  companies,  according  to  the 
strength  of  the  places  where  they  are.  They  have  colonels,  captains, 
lieutenants  and  sergeants.  They  all  assemble  every  eight  days  for 
review  and  exercise.  They  are  composed  of  all  men  in  the  parish 
most  proper  for  the  King's  service,  and  have  chosen  for  officers  either 
gentlemen  or  officers  retired  from  service,  or  the  wealthier  among 
the  bourgeois,  and  the  most  distinguished  persons  in  the  parish. 
Each  colonel  is  furnished  with  powder  and  ball  sufficient  for  march- 
ing without  delay,  in  case  they  are  commanded.  These  52  regiments 
are  scattered  through  the  whole  province,  so  that  at  all  times  every 
order  can  be  executed  at  once,  and  all  equally  watched.  The  com- 
mander of  the  province  has  a  general  review  every  year,  under  the 
eyes  of  the  recent  converts,  of  all  those  battalions,  thereby  impressing 
upon  them  the  conviction  that  any  movement  on  their  part  would 
result  in  their  ruin,  and  that,  too,  in  a  moment.  And  though  these 
are  not  the  best  of  troops,  well  commanded,  and  but  little  disciplined, 
it  is  to  be  presumed  that  they  will  be  more  than  a  match  for  a  popu- 
lace assembling  tumultuously,  without  order,  without  munitions  and 
even  without  a  leader. 


388  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 


Forts  Built. 
The  King  caused  three  forts  to  be  built  in  1689,  which  have  been 
of  great  utility,  viz. :  at  Mmes,  at  St.  Hippolyte  and  Alais,  which  are 
the  principal  entrances  to  the  Cevennes.  Castles  have  been  selected 
in  various  places  for  posts  to  overawe  the  entire  country.  As  it  was 
only  from  fear  of  punishment  that  the  new  converts  have  changed, 
the  Catholic  religion  has  made  no  progress  in  their  hearts :  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  they  will  change  their  resolution  after  the  peace ;  it  is 
impossible  that  they  should  remain  without  worship  or  any  religious 
exercise.  The  heads  of  families  die  daily,  and  are  the  most  obstinate  ; 
it  is  also  with  the  principal  ministers  who  are  in  foreign  countries 
by  whom  they  are  upheld.  The  children,  who  have  had  neither 
temples  nor  ministers,  are  more  disposed  to  receive  the  good  impres- 
sions given  to  them.  All  that  was  possible  has  been  done  to  induce 
the  children  to  attend  the  schools  established  in  all  places  of  any 
size:  this  is  the  most  efficacious  means,  and  must  be  continued  for  the 
future.  This  is  not  impossible  to  be  done,  provided  sufficient  care  be 
taken  ;  the  fathers  do  not  resist  the  orders  given  them.  It  will  be 
very  useful  to  place  the  boys  in  colleges  and  the  girls  in  convents 
whenever  the  parents  are  rich  enough  to  afford  the  expense.  The 
greatest,  most  solid,  and  I  may  add,  the  most  efficacious  expedient  is, 
to  form  good  priests  to  be  cures  and  vicars  in  the  parishes.  As  they 
were  all  filled  with  people  of  the  religion  professing  to  be  reformed 
at  the  time  of  the  general  conversion,  it  is  found  that  the  places  have 
been  filled  by  persons  very  poorly  qualified  therefor.  Means  must 
be  found  to  obtain  those  that  are  good  and  capable  of  preaching  ;  for 
the  entire  worship  of  people  of  this  religion  consists  only  in  hearing 
the  Word  of  God,  and  no  success  is  had  with  the  recent  converts, 
unless  possessed  of  a  gift  for  preaching.  It  is  only  by  good  semina- 
ries that  priests  can  be  instructed  and  rendered  such  as  they  ought 
to  be.  Thus  nothing  better  can  be  done  than  to  assist  the  bishops 
by  all  sorts  of  gifts,  so  that  they  may  have  the  means  of  establishing 
these  seminaries.  Since  the  general  conversion,  the  King  has  supplied 
the  want  of  priests  by  missions ;  but  though  they  have  been  very  useful, 
they  cannot  do  as  much  good  as  a  good  cure  who  will  be  deemed  the 
true  pastor,  and  who  will  work  all  his  life  for  the  conversion  of  his 
flock,  whether  in  the  church  or  by  the  continued  visitation  of 
private  families.  He  will  obtain  the  same  ascendency  and  the  same 
authority  as  the  ministers  had  over  the  minds  and  liearts  of  the 
religionists,  who  were  able  to  do  all  they  desired.     Whenever  a  good 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  389 

priest  is  found  in  a  parish,  it  will  be  seen  that  his  continual  pains 
cannot  be  resisted,  and  that  he  will  at  length  determine  the  new  con- 
verts to  do  their  duty.  It  must  not  be  thought  that  this  can  be 
accomplished  in  a  day,  and  that  immediately  after  the  peace  the  new 
converts  will  be  seen  flocking  to  the  churches.  It  will  happen,  on 
the  contrary,  that  they  will  remain  for  some  time  in  the  same  state  as 
when  one  is  deprived  of  the  hope  of  succeeding  in  some  cherished 
wish,  and  has  no  more  hope  of  succeeding  in  all  the  visions  with 
which  one  has  been  flattered  :  they  will  be  sad,  dejected,  and 
discouraged ;  some  will  even  be  tempted  to  withdraw  from  the  king- 
dom; but  few  in  my  opinion  will  yield  to  that  temptation ;  and  more 
will  return  than  will  go  away ;  when  all  these  movements  shall  have 
passed,  the  time  of  harvest  will  have  come ;  then,  with  a  little  pa- 
tience, shall  we  behold  good  Catholics.  But  I  have  always  thought 
that  the  worst  course  to  be  pursued  was  that  of  insisting  too  much  on 
the  use  of  the  sacraments  :  the  missionaries  who  have  done  so  through 
excess  of  zeal,  have  succeeded  badly,  and  those  places  where  tins 
course  has  been  pursued  in  the  beginning,  are  those  where  there  has 
been  the  least  advance.  The  new  converts  confess  and  commune 
as  often  as  could  be  expected,  considering  the  small  amount  of  pres- 
sure and  menace  exerted  by  the  secular  power,  but  this  produces 
only  sacrilege;  we  must  attack  the  heart;  there  it  is  that  religion 
resides,  and  can  have  no  solid  foundation  without  it  is  gained.  The 
liberty  of  going  to  Orange,  to  hear  preaching,  \inder  pretext  of  busi- 
ness, may  cause  great  disorders  ;  but  the  King  has  remedied  this  by 
forbidding  the  new  converts  from  entering  that  principality  without 
permission   of  the  governor,    or   commander,    or   intendant  of  the 

province. 

[Montmarte  Collection,  p.  109.] 


No.  4.  Vol.  i.  pp.  127—129. 

The  following  fragment,  which  formerly  made  a  part  of  the 
collection  of  the  Louvre,  and  which  we  have  found  in  the  collec- 
tions of  documents  which  served  for  the  work  of  Rulhiere, 
proves  to  what  point  the  interior  commerce  suffers  from  the 
rigor  with  which  passports  are  required,  not  only  of  foreigners  on 


390  FRENCH   PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

business  when  they  leave  the  kingdom,  but  especially  religious 
persons  suspected  of  a  desire  to  emigi-ate  : 

The  necessity  to  which  strangers  are  reduced,  -who  come  into  the 
kingdom,  of  taking  passports  to  go  away,  is,  without  doubt,  a  very  great 
inconvenience ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  re-establish  commerce,  and  to 
avoid  extreme  misery,  and  the  ruin  of  the  state,  if  it  remains  a  long 
time  as  it  now  is,  and  in  a  sort  of  interdiction.  The  utmost  efforts 
are  made  in  foreign  countries  to  get  along  without  France,  and  the 
necessity  to  which  they  will  be  reduced  of  having  no  intercourse 
with  France,  will  effect,  without  doubt,  what  the  industry  and  ill- 
will  of  our  enemies  has  failed  hitherto  to  do.  It  is  important  for  the 
service  of  the  King  to  have  a  remedy  applied  soon,  for  neither  time 
nor  ability  to  do  so  will  always  be  ours.  And  as  to  the  particular 
matter  of  passports,  it  is  certain  that  in  the  present  juncture  we  find 
ourselves  between  two  extremes  equally  dangerous — the  ruin  of  com- 
merce on  the  one  hand,  the  danger  of  the  evasion  of  a  very  large 
number  of  the  subjects  of  the  King  on  the  other. 

[Depot  du  Louvre,  anno  1686.] 


No.  5.  Edict  of  Potsdam,  Yol.  i.  pp.  127 — 129. 

Frederick  William,  by  the  grace  of  God,  Margrave  of  Branden- 
burgh,  Arch-Chamberlain  and  Prince  Elector  of  the  Holy  Empire, 
&c.  As  the  persecutions  and  rigorous  procedures  put  in  force  for 
some  time  in  France  against  persons  of  the  reformed  religion,  have 
obliged  many  families  to  leave  the  kingdom,  and  to  strive  for  an 
establishment  in  foreign  countries,  it  is  our  wish,  touched  with  the 
just  compassion  we  ought  to  feel  for  those  who  unhappily  suffer  for 
the  Gospel,  and  for  the  purity  of  the  faith  we  confess  with  them,  by 
the  present  edict,  signed  with  our  own  hand,  to  offer  to  the  said 
Frenchmen  a  sure  and  free  retreat  in  all  the  lands  and  provinces  of 
our  dominion,  and  to  declare  at  the  same  time  what  rights,  franchises, 
and  advantages  we  intend  they  shall  enjoy,  to  the  end  that  we  may 
alleviate  and  obviate  in  some  sort  the  calamities  with  which  Divine 
Providence  has  found  good  to  strike  a  portion  so  considerable  of  his 
Church. 

1.  In  fine,  that  all  who  shall  take  the  resolution  of  coming  here 
to  live,  may  find  as  much  facility  as  possible  in  getting  here,  we  have 


AUTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS.  391 

given  orders  to  our  Envoy  Extraordinary,  near  Messieurs  the  States 
General  of  the  United  Provinces,  the  S'.  Diest,  and  our  Commissioner 
at  the  city  of  Amsterdam,  the  S^.  Romswinckel,  to  furnish'^  at  our  ex- 
pense, to  all  those  of  the  said  religion  who  apply  to  them,  the  boats 
and  piovisions  they  may  stand  in  need  of  to  transport  themselves, 
properties  and  families,  from  Holland  to  the  city  of  Hamburgh,  where 
our  Councillor  of  State  and  Resident  in  the  circle  of  Lower  Saxony, 
the  S"".  de  Gerike,  will  furnish  them  with  all  commodities  they  may 
stand  in  need  of,  to  come  into  said  city  and  province  of  our  States, 
that  they  may  find  it  good  to  choose  to  live  in. 

2.  Such  as  leave  France  on  the  side  of  Sedan,  Champagne,  Lor- 
raine, Bourgogne,  or  the  Southern  provinces  of  that  kingdom,  and 
who  do  not  find  it  convenient  to  come  by  way  of  Holland,  have  only 
to  go  to  Frankfort  on  the  Main,  and  to  apply  to  S"^.  Merian,  our 
Consul  and  Resident  in  that  city,  or  to  S"^.  Leti,  our  agent,  whom  we 
also  have  commanded  to  assist  with  money,  passports  and  boats,  to 
descend  the  Rhine  into  our  Duchy  of  Cleves. 

3.  Those  who  shall  desire  to  establish  themselves  in  our  Provinces, 
shall  choose  such  place  as  may  suit  them  in  the  countries  of  Marck, 
Ravensbergh  and  Minde ;  or  in  those  of  Magdeburgh,  Halberstadt, 
Brandenburgh,  Pomerania  and  Prussia ;  and  as  we  think  that  the  Elec- 
toral Marche,  the  cities  of  Stendal,  Werbe,  Rathenow,  Brandenburgh 
and  Frankfort,  and  in  the  counties  of  Magdeburgh,  the  cities  of  Magde- 
burgh, Halle  and  Calbe,  as  also  in  Prussia  the  city  of  Koenigsburgh 
would  be  more  commodious  for  them,  whether  we  regard  the  facility 
of  obtaining  nourishment,  provisions  and  subsistence  at  a  low  price, 
or  with  regard  to  business  ;  we  have  ordered  that  as  soon  as  any  of 
the  said  Frenchmen  shall  arrive,  they  shall  be  well  received,  and 
furnished  with  all  they  may  need  for  their  establishment,  giving 
them,  besides,  entire  liberty,  and  leaving  it  to  their  own  disposition 
to  determine  in  what  city  or  province  of  our  States  they  think  most 
convenient  for  them. 

4.  The  goods,  furniture,  merchandise,  wares  that  they  bring  with 
them  shall  not  be  subject  to  any  taxes,  custom-house  duties,  but  shall  be 
exempt  from  all  charges  and  impositions  of  whatever  name  and  nature. 

5.  In  case  that  in  the  cities,  towns,  and  villages  where  the  said 
refugees  shall  go  to  establish  themselves,  there  should  be  found  any 
houses  ruined,  empty,  or  abandoned  by  their  possessors,  and  which 
the  proprietors  are  unable  to  repair,  we  give  and  assign  them  to 
those  persons  in  full  right  of  property  for  them  and  their  heirs  ;  we 
will  endeavor  to  satisfy  the  proprietors  according  to  the  value  of 
said  houses,  and  to  disen^-isre  them  of  all  charges  with  which  they 


392  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

may  yet  be  bound,  whether  for  mortgages,  debts,  contributions  or 
other  dues  heretofore  affecting  them.  We  will  also  supply  them  with 
wood,  lime,  stone,  brick,  and  other  things  they  may  need  to  repair 
what  they  find  ruinous  and  decayed  in  the  said  houses,  which  shall 
be  free  and  exempt  for  six  years  from  all  sorts  of  taxes,  watches, 
lodgment  of  soldiers  and  other  charges,  and  shall  pay  during  the  said 
time  of  franchise  the  fees  of  sale  alone. 

6.  In  the  cities  and  other  places  where  are  found  proper  places 
for  building,  persons  of  the  said  religion,  who  have  retired  here, 
shall  be  authorized  to  take  possession  for  themselves  and  heirs,  as 
also  all  gardens,  fields  and  meadows  appertaining  thereto,  without 
being  obliged  to  pay  any  charges  with  which  the  said  places  and 
their  dependencies  may  be  aff'ected;  and  to  facilitate  the  construc- 
tion of  the  said  houses,  we  will  furnish  all  the  materials  which  they 
may  stand  in  need  of,  and  grant  them  ten  years  of  franchise,  during 
which  they  shall  be  subject  to  uo  charges  except  the  said  charges 
for  sale.  And,  as  our  intention  is  to  make  these  establish- 
ments here  as  easy  for  them  as  possible,  we  have  commanded  the 
magistrates  and  other  officers  of  our  said  provinces  to  search  in  each 
city  for  houses  to  rent,  in  which  they  can  be  lodged  when  they  ar- 
rive, promising  to  pay  for  them  and  for  their  families  four  years  of 
rent  of  the  said  houses,  provided  theiy  engage  to  build  in  time  on 
the  places  selected  for  them  on  the  above-mentioned  conditions. 

7.  As  soon  as  they  have  fixed  their  residences  in  any  city  or 
town  of  our  States,  they  shall  be  granted  the  rights  of  citizenship, 
and  become  members  of  the  Trade  Associations,  which  it  is  proper 
for  them  to  enter,  and  enjoy  the  same  rights  and  privileges  as  those 
who  were  born  and  have  lived  all  their  lives  in  said  cities  and  towns, 
and  without  paying  any  thing,  or  being  liable  to  the  escheat  tax, 
or  any  other  of  whatever  nature  laid  on  strangers  in  other  countries 
and  States,  but  shall  be  treated  and  considered  wholly  and  every 
where  in  the  same  light  as  our  natural  subjects. 

8.  Those  who  may  wish  to  undertake  any  manufacture  or  work, 
whether  of  cloths,  stuffs,  hats,  or  of  any  other  kind  of  merchandise 
it  may  please  them,  shall  not  only  have  all  the  privileges,  grants 
and  franchises  they  may  need,  but  they  shall  be  supplied  with  as- 
sistance of  money,  and  of  such  provisions  and  furniture  as  they  maj 
judge  necessary  for  their  designs. 

9.  To  peasants  and  others  wishing  to  go  to  the  country,  we  will 
assign  a  certain  extent  of  land  to  cultivate,  and  they  shall  receive  all 
the  assistance  needed  for  their  subsistence  at  the  first,  in  like  manner 


AUTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS  393 

as  we  have  done  by  a  considerable  number  of  Swiss  families  who 
have  come  to  live  in  our  States, 

10.  In  regard  to  jurisdiction  and  manner  of  settling  differences, 
arising  among  the  said  Frenchmen  of  the  reformed  religion,  we  give 
permission  that  in  those  cities  where  there  are  some  of  their  families 
established,  they  can  choose  one  from  their  number,  who  shall  be 
authorized  to  settle  their  differences  in  an  amicable  manner,  without 
any  formality  or  process:  and,  if  these  differences  arise  between 
Germans  and  Frenchmen,  they  shall  be  decided  conjointly  by  the 
magisti-ates  and  by  the  person  chosen  from  among  the  French  above 
mentioned ;  and,  also,  they  shall  decide  those  eases  among  the 
French,  which  they  are  unable  to  settle  by  the  amicable  agreement 
above  spoken  of. 

11.  We  will  salary  a  minister  in  every  city,  and  will  assign  a  fit- 
ting plan  for  the  exercise  of  the  religion  in  French,  according  to  the 
customs  and  with  the  same  ceremonies  hitlierto  in  use  by  them  in 
France. 

12.  Such  French  noblemen  as  have  placed  themselves  under  our 
protection  and  entered  our  service,  sliall  actually  enjoy  the  same 
honors,  dignities,  and  advantages,  as  those  of  the  country,  and  may  be 
even  advanced  to  the  first  places  at  court,  and  command  of  our  troops. 
We  will  also  grant  the  same  favors  to  those  of  the  said  nobility  who 
shall  hereafter  dwell  in  our  States,  giving  them  employment,  honors, 
and  dignities,  of  which  they  may  be  capable  ;  and  if  they  purchase 
fiefs  or  other  property,  and  lands  of  noblemen,  they  shall  hold  them 
with  the  same  rights,  liberties,  and  prerogatives,  as  the  nobility  of 
the  country. 

13.  All  privileges  and  other  rights  spoken  of  above,  shall  hold 
not  only  with  regard  to  those  of  the  French  nation  who  may  arrive 
after  the  date  of  the  present  edict,  but  also  such  as  shall  hereafter 
come  here  to  live,  provided  they  are  exiles  from  France  on  account 
of  the  "  reformed  "  religion ;  those,  however,  making  a  profession  of 
the  Roman  religion,  are  not  entitled  to  them. 

14.  We  establish  commissions  in  each  of  our  provinces,  duchies, 
and  principalities,  to  whom  Frenchmen  of  the  "reformed"  religion 
may  have  recourse  if  there  be  need,  not  only  in  the  beginning  of  their 
coming  here  but  afterwards.  And  all  our  governors  and  regents  of 
our  provinces  and  states  have  orders,  in  virtue  of  these  presents  and  of 
the  particular  commands  we  shall  send  them,  to  take  the  said  persons 
under  their  protection,  and  to  maintain  them  in  all  the  privileges  in- 
dicated above,  and  not  to  allow  them  to  suffer  any  wrong  or  injustice, 

VOL.    II — 17* 


394  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

but  rather  all  kinds  of  favor,  aid,  and  assistance.     Given  at  Potsdam, 
the  29th  October,  1685.         (Signed)         FREDERICK  WILLIAM. 


No.  6.  Vol.  i.  p.  2. 

Concessions  and  privileges  granted  hy  His  Serene  Highness,  Charles  I., 
Landgrave  of  Hesse,  Prince  of  Hersfeld,  Count  of  Catzenellenhogen, 
Dietz,  Zingenhain,  Kedda,  and  Schaumbourg,  to  such  as  mag  desire 
to  live  in  his  States,  to  exercise  or  carry  on  manufactures  not  now 
carried  on,  and  other  arts,  works  and  trades,  useful  and  necessary, 
whatever  they  may  he.     12th  December,  1685. 

Akt.  1.  All  persons  making  a  profession  of  the  Protestant  religion, 
and  wishing  to  establish  themselves  in  the  States  of  His  Serene  High- 
ness, shall  be  assured  of  his  protection  from  the  moment  they  take 
the  oath  of  fidelity,  and  shall  be  in  no  manner  molested,  provided 
they  religiously  observe  the  commands  of  His  Highness,  and  conform 
to  the  laws  of  the  country. 

Art.  2.  Persons  who  come  to  establish  themselves  in  the  States 
of  His  Serene  Highness,  after  taking  the  oath  of  fidelity,  shall  be  free 
to  select  such  cities  and  places  as  shall  be  proper  for  their  business, 
where  places  shall  be  given  them  on  which  to  build,  and  permission 
given  them  to  take  wood  from  the  forests,  and  stone  and  sand  from 
such  places  as  shall  be  deemed  proper. 

Art.  3.  Persons  desiring  to  establish  manufactures  of  any  kind, 
shall  enjoy  for  that  purpose  10  or  12  years  of  franchise,  viz.  :  from 
land-taxes,  imposts,  taxes,  lodging  of  soldiers,  patrols,  guards,  and 
other  charges,  both  themselves,  their  associates,  workmen  in  their 
employ,  and  generally  those  who  build  shall  enjoy  for  fifteen  years 
freedom  from  taxation  on  the  houses  they  shall  build.  But  with  re- 
gard to  merchants,  artisans,  and  trades-people,  who  neither  manufac- 
ture nor  build,  and  who  simply  follow  their  professions  or  trades  in 
use  in  the  States  of  His  Highness,  a  reasonable  time  of  exemption 
shall  be  granted  them,  during  which  they  shall  enjoy  the  above-men- 
tioned privileges,  and  like  the  others,  shall  not  be  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  city  magistracy,  but  under  that  of  the  commissioners  of 
regency  of  His  Highness. 

Art.  4.  Places  for  building  shall  be  given  them,  in  places  absolute- 


AUTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS.  395 

ly  under  our  authority,  said  ground  to  become  the  property  of  their 
heirs  and  successors,  provided  they  do  not  abandon  it  under  any  pre- 
text whatever.  However,  the  desire  of  His  Highness  is  that  the 
larger  portion  should  live  in  his  residence  of  Cassel, 

Art.  5,  In  the  cities  of  His  Highness,  places  for  building  shall  be 
sold  them  at  a  just  value,  on  which  to  build  their  houses,  which 
shall  be  built  of  brick  or  stone ;  but  to  those  who  desire  to  purchase 
houses  or  lands.  His  Highness  grants  a  personal  franchise  for  the 
time  mentioned  above ;  but  if  the  said  lands  or  houses  are  encumber- 
ed, they  shall  be  bound  thereby  like  other  subjects. 

Art.  6.  The  privileges  granted  to  the  fathers  shall  pass  to  the 
children  in  case  of  decease,  which  they  shall  enjoy  the  remaining 
years  of  franchise  granted  to  their  fathers,  and  it  shall  be  allow- 
able for  each  one  to  sell  and  traffic  in  the  merchandise  and  wares 
in  the  country  at  a  reasonable  price,  and  to  transport  them  to  other 
countries,  after  having  exposed  them  to  sale.  So  each  man  may  have 
business  and  traffic  in  an  honest  manner,  like  other  subjects  of  His 
Highness,  to  whom  they  shall  be  equal  in  all  things. 

Art.  1.  When  the  time  of  exemption  shall  have  elapsed,  His 
Highness  being  humbly  supplicated,  will  always  show  a  disposition 
favorable  to  a  prorogation  of  the  term,  and  this  for  each  one's  good, 
which  will  depend  absolutely  on  his  will,  and  for  the  intei*est  of 
manufacturers  of  importance  nothing  shall  be  done  to  their  prejudice 
whilst  their  franchises  continue,  and  in  case  he  should  meet  with 
others  desirous  of  manufacturing  the  same  articles.  His  Serene  High- 
ness will  use  his  influence  to  bring  about  an  accommodation  with 
the  first,  so  that  both  parties  can  labor  for  their  mutual  benefit  and 
profit. 

Art.  8.  Each  manufacturer  shall  bring  such  associates  and  com- 
panions as  he  may  think  necessary,  who  shall  have  the  same  rights 
as  their  chief;  merchants,  artisans,  and  tradesmen,  shall  also  enjoy 
the  same  rights  from  the  moment  they  have  taken  the  oath  of  fideli- 
ty, with  no  expense  to  themselves.  They  shall  be  allowed  to  have 
apprentices  and  journeymen,  who  can  enjoy  none  of  the  above-men- 
tioned privileges,  nor  establish  themselves  as  masters,  until  they  shall 
show  evidence  of  having  fully  served  their  apprenticeship. 

Art.  9.  They  shall  be  allowed  to  choose,  by  plurality  of  voices, 
skilful  inspectors  to  visit  the  works  and  correct  abuses.  However, 
they  must  be  confirmed  by  the  regency  of  His  Serene  Highness,  and 
make  to  the  regency  a  faithful  report  of  all  matters. 

Art.  10.  Those  taking  their  merchandise  oiit  of  the  States  of  His 


%W 


396  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

Serene  Highness,  must  pay  the  export  duty,  which  is  a  small  sum. 
If  there  be  any  desiring  to  introduce  the  manufacture  of  a  new  inven- 
tion, and  are  not  satisfied  with  their  privileges,  His  Serene  Highness 
will  hear  their  demands,  and  respond  according  to  the  importance  of 
the  matter. 

Art.  11.  The  furniture  and  tools  of  those  who  come  to  remain  in 
the  country  of  His  Highness,  whether  as  rough  material  or  ready  for 
sale,  shall  be  free  and  exempt  from  all  duty,  when  brought  into  these 
States, 

Art.  12.  His  Serene  Highness  will  support  in  his  city  of  Cassel, 
ministers  from  France,  where  they  have  exercised  their  ministry 
with  zeal  and  general  approbation  ;  also,  a  chanter,  reader  and  school- 
master, whilst  waiting  the  action  of  the  Assembly.  If  he  meets  with 
persons  of  piety  of  the  "reformed"  religion,  who  may  desire  other 
places  to  build  their  temples,  and  to  provide,  at  their  expense,  for  per- 
sons for  the  public  exercise  of  religion,  His  Serene  Highness  will  con- 
sent, provided  his  consistory  have  been  exactly  informed  thereof,  and 
an  examination  been  made,  and  all  the  requisite  formalities  observed. 

Art.  13.  Persons  of  quality  desiring  to  retire  under  the  protection 
of  His  Serene  Highness,  can  purchase  seignorial  lands,  in  all  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  which  they  shall  be  preserved  and  protected, 
and  enjoy  the  rights  annexed  thereto,  without  being  troubled  in  any 
manner. 

Art.  14.  In  regard  to  the  difi"erences  which  may  spring  up  be- 
tween those  who  have  recently  come  into  the  States  of  His  Serene 
Highness,  whether  ecclesiastical,  secular,  or  civil,  the  commissioners 
of  regency,  or  the  consistory,  shall  have  jurisdiction,  and  after  hav- 
ing exhorted  to  an  amicable  arrangement,  and  if  they  do  not  agree, 
the  law  of  the  country,  or  local  custom,  shall  decide  the  difference. 

Art.  15.  Such  as  desire  to  live  on  their  income,  and  have  no  em- 
ployment, if  their  money  is  at  interest  in  the  States  of  His  Serene 
Highness,  shall  have  franchise  and  exemption  from  all  taxes  for  six 
years,  after  which  time  they  shall  pay  the  ordinary  dues,  which  are 
light.  But  if  their  revenues  come  from  abroad,  with  the  permission 
of  His  Serene  Highness  they  may  live  in  his  States  and  pay  no  taxes. 

Art.  16.  Good  3p>rkmen  of  whatever  kind,  who  have  not  the 
means  to  set  up  an  establishment,  provided  they  are  honest  folks, 
shall  receive  reasonable  advances  from  His  Serene  Highness. 

Finally,  His  Serene  Highness  will  maintain  all  in  the  above-men- 
tioned privileges,  and  see  to  it  that  they  enjoy  the  same  in  peace  and 
tranquillity ;  and  will  take  them  under  his  special  protection  and  will 


AUTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS.  397 

not  suffer  any  wrong  whatever  to  be  done  them,  but  rather  grant 
them  all  sorts  of  assistance  and  favor. 

Given  at  Cassel  the  12th  December,  1685. 

Signed:  Charles. 

Brief  account  of  the  Country  of  Hesse  Cassel. 

His  Serene  Highness  is  of  the  reformed  religion,  and  is,  this  year 
1685,  but  31  years  of  age.  He  has  four  Princes  and  one  Princess  for 
children,  his  brother  has  a  daughter,  also  of  the  reformed  religion. 
Cassel  is  the  capital  and  the  residence  of  this  Prince  ;  it  is  large,  strong 
and  well-built ;  the  streets  fine  and  the  houses  are  commodious  and 
cheap.  There  are  some  fine  fountains  which  scatter  their  waters 
through  all  the  streets.  The  river  Fulda,  navigable  for  boats,  passes 
through  the  city.  One  can  carry  on  business  both  by  land  and 
water  to  Hamburgh,  Bremen,  Brunswick,  Hanover,  Zell,  Dresden, 
Berlin,  Leipsic,  Nuremburgh,  Cologne,  Lubeck,  Frankford,  Mar- 
bourgh  and  other  cities,  of  Germany,  in  the  midst  of  which  it  is 
placed.  The  country  is  very  fine,  the  climate  good  and  healthy,  and 
the  people  kind  and  benevolent  to  strangers.  The  cultivated  lands 
are  fruitful ;  the  country  in  general  is  made  up  of  such  lands,  mea- 
dows, woods,  streams  and  rivers  filled  with  fish  ;  the  streams  admira 
ble  for  all  kinds  of  manufactures.  The  country  abounds  in  animals. 
A  load  of  wood  (a  cord  Paris  measure)  costs  25  sous ;  a  pound  of 
bread  6  farthings  (three  English  farthings) ;  a  pound  of  meat,  veal  and 
mutton  2  sous ;  beef  6  sous  6  farthings  ;  a  pound  of  salt  2  farthings ; 
a  pound  of  butter,  in  the  summer,  4  sous,  and  in  the  winter,  6 ;  a 
pound  of  candles  5  sous  ;  a  doz.  of  eggs,  4  sous.  A  pint  of  Rhenish 
wine,  Paris  measure,  costs  10  sous ;  beer  and  hrinhand  cost  at  the 
pot-houses  2  sous  the  tankard ;  but  those  who  brew  it,  have  a  better 
quality  for  half  the  price.  Money  of  France  is  worth  10  or  12  per 
cent,  more  than  in  France.  There  are  in  the  states  of  His  Serene 
Highness,  universities  high  in  reputation,  as  those  of  Marbourgh  and 
Rinteln,  and  in  some  cities  are  schools  for  teaching  the  Latin 
language.  His  Serene  Highness  is  kind  and  well  disposed  to  stran- 
gers. Tlie  towns-people  and  the  peasants  live  in  peace  ; — the  taxes 
and  charges  are  much  less  than  in  France  or  elsewhere.  There  are 
many  places  and  large  meadows  where  cattle  can  be  sent  to  pasture 
by  paying  a  small  sum  as  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  country  do. 
Cassel,  12th  December,  1685. 


398 


FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 


No.  7,  Vol.  i.  p.  269. 

Below  may  be  found  the  discourse  preserved  in  the  Acts  of 
the  French  Church  of  London,  and  which  was  addressed  to 
James  II.  on  his  accession  to  the  throne,  by  the  deputies  of 
the  French  and  Dutch  churches  of  London. 

"  The  French  and  Dutch  churches  of  your  city  of  London  and  of  some 
other  cities  of  your  kingdom  have  sent  us  to  Your  Majesty  to  render 
to  him  their  homage,  to  assure  him  of  their  fidehty  and  of  the 
inviolable  attachment  which  they  have  for  his  service,  to  implore  his 
royal  protection  and  to  ask  of  him  with  profound  humihty  the 
continuation  of  the  favors  which  they  have  hitherto  enjoyed  in  your 
Empire.  These  favors,  Sire,  are  a  benefit  that  they  have  enjoyed  for 
more  than  a  century  by  the  bounty  of  kings,  your  predecessors.  So, 
knowing  that,  as  you  are  the  just  and  legitimate  heir  of  their  crowns, 
so  also  are  you  of  their  virtues ;  and  that  grandeur  of  soul  which  is 
natural  to  jon  must  inspire  you  with  a  clemency  hke  to  that  of  the  late 
King  of  glorious  and  immortal  memory  who  has  made  the  admiration 
of  the  whole  universe,  they  dare  to  hope  that  they  may  enjoy  their 
happiness  under  the  shadow  of  your  sceptre,  and  that  this  august 
throne  to  which  God  and  your  right  have  elevated  you,  will  be  a 
throne  of  grace  from  which  you  may  throw  upon  them  favorable 
regards.  The  setting  of  that  great  sun,  of  which  they  have  been  lately 
deprived,  has  thrown  them  into  consternation  and  mourning.  Have 
the  goodness,  Sire,  to  restore  them  the  light  which  illuminates  them, 
and  to  cast  upon  them  some  of  those  sweet  rays  which  are  about  to 
make  the  fehcity  of  your  kingdom  and  carry  happiness  to  the  hearts 
of  all  your  people.  By  so  doing,  Sire,  you  will  be  conferring  favors 
upon  persons  truly  few  in  numbers,  but  upon  persons  whose  heart  is 
right  toward  Your  Majesty.  Finally,  we  protest  we  will  render 
inviolably  to  him  all  the  obedifnce  that  faithful  subjects  owe  to  their 
Sovereign  Prince,  and  that  we  will  not  cease  to  pray  to  God  that  he 
may  give  you  a  long  and  happy  reign,  and  all  benedictions  of  heaven 
and  of  earth."  His  Majesty  replied  that  he  would  engage  that  they 
should  have  the  same  protection  as  under  the  King  his  brother  and 
his  ancestors,  and  that  he  regarded  them  as  good  subjects.  "We  have 
received  letters  from  the  churches  of  Canterbury,  Southampton  and 
Thorney-abbey,  thanking  our  company  for  what  they  presented  to 
the  King  in  their  name. 

(Register  of  the  Acts  of  the  French  Church  of  London.) 


AUTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS.  399 


No.  8,  Vol.  i.  pp.  289-297. 

We  deem  it  useful  to  publish  some  fragments  of  the 
unpublished  correspondence  of  Bonrepaus  with  Seignelay, 
They  prove  the  little  success  of  the  mission  with  which  he 
was  charged  by  the  French  government. 

Dispatch  of  M.  de  Bonrepaus  to  Marquis  de  Seignelay. 

London,  31st  December,  1685. 
I  have  explained  to  M.  de  Barillon  the  subject  of  my  journey. 
He  thinks  it  a  difficult  matter  to  bring  about  a  return  of  the  refugees 
to  France.  There  are  many  of  them  in  this  country.  I  hope  it  will 
not  be  so  difficult  as  M.  de  Barillon  thinks  it  is  to  bring  back  the  larger 
part  of  them.  What  has  caused  the  greatest  trouble,  is,  that  some 
merchants,  lately  from  France,  and  particularly  from  Roelielle,  say  that 
great  rigor  is  displayed  towards  Protestants  ;  and  cites  cases  of  people 
whom  the  dragoons  have  trampled  imder  their  horses'  feet.  Though,  in 
truth,  this  has  not  been  done,  time  will  be  needed  to  disabuse  them, 
and  a  more  kind  treatment,  in  the  future,  if  possible.  One  thing  I  see 
here  clearly  from  the  discourse  even  of  the  lasc  refugees, — and  that  is 
that  they  have  no  difficulty  in  leaving  the  ports  of  the  kingdom : 
some  by  the  use  of  money  supplied  by  those  willing  to  facilitate  their 
evasion,  others  by  watching  their  opportunity  and  sm-prising  the 
officers.  I  am  not  yet  sufficiently  well  informed  to  say  on  whom 
suspicion  should  fall ;  but  certain  it  is  that  abuses  have  been  com- 
mitted. I  have  met  here  M.  Forant,  who  is  very  zealous  and  well- 
disposed,  but  who  nevertheless  has  taken  false  steps.  He  has  told 
those  Frenchmen  recognizing  him,  that  he  was  not  a  Catholic,  whilst 
every  body  knows  the  contrary,  his  abjuration  having  been  published 
in  the  Gazette  de  France,  and  in  all  the  journals  of  foreign  countries 
trading  with  that  city.  He  has,  besides,  given  out,  that  he  was 
arming  a  vessel  for  Holland,  pretending  to  engage  for  that  purpose 
divers  sailors  to  embark  with  him  and  to  take  them  afterwards  to 
France ;  but  so  far  was  this  expedient  from  succeeding,  it  has  cast 
them  into  great  fear,  lest  they  should  be  carried  away  by  force,  to 
such  an  extent,  that  some  marine  officers,  ignorant  of  the  customs  of 
this  country,  have  concealed  themselves  from  fear  of  being  arrested. 
I  deem  it  very  necessary  to  lay  these  rumors,  and  that  no  other 
means  be  used  to  bring  them  back  but  those  of  mildness  and  instruc- 


400  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

tion,  with  the  hope  of  good  treatment  in  France.  I  have  so  explained 
myself  to  M.  Forant.  He  can  be  made  useful,  provided  he  is  over- 
looked. He  departs  from  here  to-day  to  go  along  the  coast  from  here 
to  Yarmouth  with  a  memorandum  from  me  of  what  he  is  to  do. 

31.  cle  Bonrepaus  to  M.  de  Seignelay. 

London,  3d  January,  1686. 
His  Britannic  Majesty  has  not  refrained  from  telling  me  that  he 
regards  all  Protestants  as  republicans,  and  particularly  those  fleeing 
from  France ;  but  inasmiich  as  the  rumors  spread  abroad  of  violence 
to  be  used  towards  them  have  produced  a  bad  effect,  and  given  occa- 
sion for  saying  that  he  designed  to  do  the  same  towards  his  own  sub- 
jects, he  hoped  that  the  matter  would  be  gently  dealt  with,  to  put 
an  end  to  these  rumors.  M.  de  Barillon  thinks  the  knowledge  the 
King  has  of  the  object  of  my  journey,  with  regard  to  the  refugees,  has 
induced  him  to  declare  yesterday  sooner  than  he  otherwise  would  have 
done,  that  the  Bishop  of  London  should  no  longer  be  a  member  of  his 
council.  He  was  a  zealous  protector  of  the  refugees  from  France,  and 
entirely  in  the  interest  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  This  intelligence, 
made  known  only  this  morning,  has  made  a  great  sensation  in  Lon- 
don. The  King  of  England  has  forbidden,  since  my  arrival,  the  offi- 
cers of  his  guards  from  receiving,  hereafter,  any  stranger  into  their 
companies.  This  is  intended  particularly  for  the  refugees  from  France, 
who  offer  themselves  in  crowds.  The  minds  of  these  fugitives  are 
still  so  inflamed,  that  I  have  no  hope  of  inducing  their  return  soon. 
But  the  affair  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  their  exclusion  from  the 
household  troops  of  the  King  of  England,  have  taken  away  their 
hopes  of  being  protected  in  this  country ;  they  will  probably  go  to 
Holland,  where  their  great  number  will  prevent  their  obtaining  sub- 
sistence, and  the  more  easily  induce  them  to  return  to  France. 

M.  de  Bonrepaus  to  M.  de  Seignelay. 

London,  10th  January,  1686. 
The  King  of  England  appeared  resolved  yesterday  not  to  assist 
the  fugitives  from  France.  One  of  his  principal  ministers,  with  great 
readiness,  told  me  that  the  permission  hitherto  granted  of  taking  up 
a  collection  for  them  should  be  withdrawn.  I  am  hard  at  work  now 
soothing  the  minds  of  those  having  influence  over  the  rest,  and  having 
the  power  to  lead  them,  hoping  to  succeed  only  through  persuasion. 


AUTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS.  401 

From  the  Same  to  the  Same. 

London,  17th  Jan.,  1686. 
"With  regard  to  the  fugitives,  I  could  induce  some  of  the  principal 
ones  to  return ;  but  it  is  much  better  in  the  present  posture  of  af- 
fairs to  soothe  their  minds,  which  is  the  object  I  am  aiming  at. 
When  facilities  to  return  are  offered  them,  they  go  directly  to  the 
Bishop  of  London  to  inform  him  of  it,  to  give  him  a  high  idea  of  the 
advantages  they  refuse  for  the  sake  of  their  religion :  in  fine,  to  draw 
to  tliemselves  thereby  a  greater  consideration ;  but  in  a  little  time  they 
will  want  the  means  of  living,  particularly  if  a  collection  is  not  taken 
up,  and  will  come  of  their  own  accord  to  ask  the  favor  the  King 
wishes  to  bestow  on  them ;  and  then  M.  Robert  can  execute  the  ordei's 
in  regard  to  this  matter  given  him  by  us. 

From  the  Same  to  the  Same. 

London,  28th  Jan.,  1686. 
You  have  learned  from  the  letters  of  MM.  Foraut  and  Dauois,  the 
bad  success  they  have  had  in  Holland.  The  same  thing  happened 
here  at  first.  These  things  can  succeed  only  through  the  good  con- 
duct of  those  intrusted  with  the  matter,  and  by  a  little  delay.  I  am 
more  and  more  impressed  with  the  belief  of  the  necessity  of  soothing 
their  minds,  now  very  bitter.  M.  d'Ada,  envoy  of  the  Pope  at  this 
Court,  came  to  see  me  day  before  yesterday.  In  the  course  of  the 
conversation,  he  informed  me  that  the  English  Catholics  are  continu- 
ally annoyed  by  rumors  spread  abroad  here  of  persecutions  in  France 
of  the  people  of  the  R.  P.  R.  I  explained  to  him  again  what  I  had 
already  spoken  of  above,  and  I  gave  him  a  Metalled  statement  of 
the  manner  with  which  the  King  gave  his  orders  to  exhort  and  in- 
struct the  religionists,  without  doing  them  violence,  and  of  the  con- 
siderable sums  distributed  by  him  for  the  relief  of  the  new  converts, 
who  had  need  of  temporal  succor,  after  having  received  spiritual ; .  . . . 
that  of  a  hundred  converts,  ninety  had  not  soldiers  quartered  on 
them.  I  related  what  passed  in  the  country  of  Foix,  whilst  I  was 
there,  when  six  out  of  seven  cities  filled  with  religionists  changed  de- 
liberately without  waiting  for  troops,  and  the  seventh  two  days  after. 
He  returned  yesterday,  and  begged  me  to  make  the  same  statement 
to  some  of  the  principal  Catholics  of  the  Court,  who  desired  to  hear 
the  details  from  me,  which  I  was  unable  to  withhold  from  my  lord 
Castlemaine,  my  lord  Douvres,  and  my  lord  Tyreonnel,  who  are 
the  most  zealous  Catholics,  and  the  most  in  the  confidence  of  the 
King  of  England. 


402  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

M.  de  Bonrepaus  to  M.  de  Seignelay. 

London,  11th  February,  1686. 
Some  sailoi's  depart  to-day  on  their  return  to  France  with  some 
other  fugitives  ;  but  I  see,  with  extreme  pain,  the  establishment  of 
our  best  manufactures.  Xot  only  do  people  of  the  R.  P.  11.  come  here 
to  labor,  bat  also  some  Catholics.  They  have  begun,  at  Ipswich,  the 
manufacture  of  cloth,  usually  purchased  by  the  English  in  France, 
for  their  West  India  trade.  But  at  present  they  make  sail-cloth.  I 
have  found  means  to  draw  here  two  Catholic  workmen,  under  pretext 
of  wishing  to  purchase  their  stuffs,  which  I  was  anxious  to  see,  that  I 
might  judge  of  the  quality.  They  have  agreed  to  return  to  France. 
I  have  detained  one  until  the  return  of  the  other,  who  has  gone  to 
Ipswich  to  persuade  some  of  his  comrades  to  return  with  him,  by 
promising  to  give  them  ten  pistoles  each,  if  they  return  with  him, 
whether  Catholic  or  Protestant.  These  people  do  not  know  me.  I 
spoke  to  them  at  the  house  of  a  merchant,  who  told  them  that  we 
were  partners  in  the  manufacture  of  this  kind  of  cloth  in  France.  As 
no  Englishman  is  sufficiently  skilful  to  manufacture  it,  I  hoped  to  en- 
tirely destroy  this  establishment.  If  I  could  go  to  the  places,  I  should 
be  sure  of  the  thing,  but  being  known  as  I  am  in  this  country,  it 
would  be  an  act  of  imprudence  to  compromise  myself  in  a  matter 
which  the  King  of  England  and  parliament  regard  as  an  excellent 
thing  for  this  kingdom.  The  reason  given  by  these  persons  for  their 
desertion  is,  that  their  manufactures  of  cloth  are  in  great  confusion  in 
!N"ormandy  and  in  Brittany  ;  the  persons  engaged  in  it,  instead  of  pro- 
tecting the  workmen,  and  introducing  good  discipline  among  them, 
strive  only  to  rob  them,  thereby  placing  them  under  the  necessity  of 
abandoning  their  trade,  and  if  the}"  remained  in  the  kingdom,  be 
reduced  to  the  necessity  of  cultivating  the  ground,  as  the  greater  part 
of  their  comrades  do.  The  other  manufactures  being  established  in 
this  country  are  those  of  wool  hats  and  the  manner  of  preparing  the 
skins  of  the  chamois.  This,  joined  to  the  facility  of  transporting 
gold  from  France,  has  diminished  the  commerce  so  considerably,  that 
having  assembled  the  French  and  English  merchants,  and  made  a 
balance  of  the  merchandise  passing  from  one  country  to  the  other, 
we  have  found  that  those  of  France  amounted  heretofore  to  two  mil- 
lions of  livres  more  than  that  of  England,  which  balance  was  partly 
remitted  in  specie  and  partly  by  bills  of  exchange,  and  this  in  turn 
used  to  make  payments  in  London,  so  as  not  to  take  a  sou  awayfi'om 
France.  Now  it  is  entirely  the  other  way  ;  it  being  ascertained  that 
500,000  pistoles  passed  from  France  to  England  during  the  year  1685, 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  403 

as  may  be  seen  from  the  money  registers  of  London,  by  the  sum 
funded  there,  and  from  the  custom-house,  of  what  has  been  sent  to 
India. 

From  the  Same  to  the  Same. 

London,  ISth  February,  16S6. 
I  reply,  Monseigneur,  to  the  two  letters  you  have  done  me  the 
honor  to  write  me.  I  have  thought  it  proper  to  give  you  an  exact 
account  of  all  that  has  passed  in  regard  to  the  refugees  ;  but  we  must 
not  despair  of  being  able  to  bring  back  the  most  of  them ;  for  even 
as  things  now  are,  I  have  sent  persons  away  every  day.  It  is  very 
probable  that  when  the  small  sum  brought  with  them  from  France 
shall  fail  them,  and  they  shall  be  entirely  disabused  of  the  succor 
they  are  expecting  from  collections  and  employment,  they  will  think 
more  seriously  of  profiting  by  the  favors  the  King  has  the  goodness 
to  offer  them.  I  have  spoken  to  the  minister  Allix,  according  to  your 
order,  and  I  made  use  of  the  turn  you  prescribed  to  me  to  insinuate  the 
favor  he  might  expect  from  the  King,  if  he  would  return  to  France, 
and  change  his  religion.  He  received  with  much  respect  and  appa- 
rent gratitude  the  marks  of  the  goodness  and  charity  of  His  Majesty. 
He  told  me  that  M.  de  Menars  had  spoken  to  him  a  short  time  pre- 
vious to  his  leaving  France,  but  that  he  could  not  make  up  his  mind 
to  do  what  was  desired  of  him.  "We  had  a  dispute  upon  the  authori- 
ty of  the  church,  and  their  separation  from  it.  He  promised  to  see 
me  again,  and  I  shall  employ  all  my  skill  to  induce  him  to  take  the 
good  road.  The  interest  felt  by  the  King  of  England  in  religious 
questions  has  given  me  free  access  to  him.  He  was  much  affected  by 
what  I  told  him  of  the  spirit  of  the  Catholics  in  reference  to  the  con- 
duct pursued  by  the  King,  as  to  the  conversion  of  his  heretic  subjects, 
and  of  the  French  books  I  had  distributed  here,  which  might  serve  for 
the  conversion  of  some  Protestants ;  we  have  even  translated  some 
of  these  books  into  English,  which  are  publicly  sold. 

In  a  report  to  Seignelay,  dated  5th  May,  1686,  Bonrepaus  an- 
nounces that  he  has  sent  back  to  France  507  fugitives.  He  adds : 
"  It  seems  to  me  that  there  is  scarcely  more  than  4,500  of  them  here ; 
but  I  have  nothing  to  reproach  myself  with,  either  as  to  care  or  dili- 
gence. I  should  have  done  much  better  had  it  not  been  for  the 
hopes  these  unhappy  persons  have  entertained  of  drawing  consider- 
able sums  from  collections.  The  Protestants  have  turned  back  many 
who  had  given  me  their  word.  They  have  been  of  great  advantage 
to  them,  and  very  watchful  of  my  proceedings,  especially  since  the 


404  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES, 

festival  of  Easter,  because  they  found  at  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  that  many  persons  were  absent,  among  others  some  mer- 
chants from  Rochelle,  whose  return  was  extremely  mortifying  to 
them. . .  There  are  a  great  number  to  whom  I  have  given  nothing, 
particularly  sailors,  having  found  means  to  send  them  away  in  French 
ships,  which  happened  to  be  in  England. .  .  The  expense  for  the 
return  of  these  people  amounted  to  about  500  crowns. 

"  What  strikes  me  as  most  advantageous  in  the  return  of  these 
persons,  is  the  destruction  of  the  manufacture  of  white  cloth  which 
they  have  introduced  into  England.  The  English,  who  are  interested 
therein,  are  making  a  great  outcry ;  but  the  King  of  England,  who 
regards  these  fugitives  as  his  enemies,  has  not  taken  up  the  com- 
plaints made  to  him  on  the  subject.  When  parliament  meets  they 
will  cause  me  much  embarrassment,  as  has  often  enough  been  told 
me." 

A  memorandum  of  what  I  have  remarTced  in  the  voyage  ichich  ha.s  been 
ordered  by  M.  de  Bonrepaus. 

Of  all  the  cities  spoken  of  above,  Plymouth  alone  is  permanently 
resided  in  by  French  fugitives ;  yet  the  greater  part  are  waiting  until 
winter  be  passed,  and  a  better  season  shall  permit  them  to  go  else- 
where to  live.  To  be  sure,  some  disembark  in  other  cities,  but  only 
to  pass  along,  because  in  these  places  no  help  could  be  had,  and  they 
all  went  to  London, 

At  Bristol  they  told  me  that  30  or  40  Frenchmen  hVid  passed,  and 
that  four  sailors  had  taken  service  on  board  an  English  vessel,  which 
was  going  to  the  islands  of  America,  when  I  was  there.  There  were 
two  ministers  of  Rochelle,  to  whom  I  spoke,  and  who  told  me  that  I 
announced  news  too  hard  to  be  believed,  and  that  they  did  not  be- 
lieve there  would  ever  be  any  safety  for  those  of  their  religion  in 
France.  At  Falmouth,  I  was  told  that  20  or  30  Frenchmen  had 
landed ;  and  that  25  or  30  had  passed  over  to  Ireland.  When  I  was 
there,  a  vessel  was  about  sailing  to  Dublin,  having  on  board 
7  or  8  Frenchmen.  I  saw  four  of  them  to  whom  I  spoke;  and  who 
told  me,  that  even  if  it  should  be  allowed  them  to  have  preach- 
ing in  France,  it  would  only  be  in  order  to  draw  them  there,  and 
make  them  more  trouble.  And,  when  I  insisted  on  telling  them  that 
all  the  assurances  they  might  ask  for  would  be  given  them,  they  re- 
tired, and  would  no  longer  listen  to  me.  Plymouth  is  the  place  con- 
taining the  most  Frenchmen.  There  are  about  three  hundred  there. 
There  is  preaching  to  about  five  hundred  in  the  city.     I  spoke  to  all 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  405 

I  could  meet,  and  I  went  to  find  others  in  their  houses  to  tell  them 
what  I  had  to  say,  though  most  of  them  received  me  badly.  I  even 
entered  a  place  where  I  knew  that  some  were  assembled,  among 
whom  was  one  to  whom  I  had  already  spoken,  named  Barbot,  of 
Rochelle,  and  who,  with  one  of  his  fi-iends,  was  very  fierce  against 
me  on  account  of  what  I  had  just  told  them.  This  did  not  prevent 
me  from  sayiug  to  all  who  were  there,  and  whom  I  had  not  yet  seen, 
the  same  things  I  had  spoken  to  the  others.  The  only  difference 
being,  that  being  known  of  every  body,  I  spoke  publicly,  and  made 
no  mystery.  They  relished  as  little  as  the  others  what  I  said  to 
them,  and  they  could  not  restrain  themselves  from  speaking  angrily 
to  me,  and  with  resentment,  on  account  of  what  I  had  told  them. 
They  alleged  that  they  had  undergone  extreme  violence,  that  their 
mind  and  conscience  might  be  in  repose,  and  that  they  had  abandon- 
ed for  it  all  that  was  most  dear  to  them  in  the  world  ;  and,  therefore, 
no  reason  could  be  given,  why  they  should  place  themselves  in  the 
embarrassments  from  which  they  had  with  so  much  trouble  disen- 
gaged themselves.  They  mentioned,  also,  the  suppression  of  the 
edicts  made  in  their  favor.  They  added,  that  it  was  not  possible  to 
exercise  their  religion  without  preaching,  and  ministers,  and  without 
this  re-establishment  there  could  be  no  safety  for  them  in  France. 
Such  are  the  discourses  with  which  these  people  of  the  R.  P.  R. 
eluded  all  the  assurances  given  them,  which  they  were  unwilling  to 
believe  ;  and  there  were  some  who  said  that  if  they  could  return 
and  live  in  France  undisturbed,  they  would  not  do  so,  unless  preaching 
and  ministers  were  allowed  them  as  before.  I  saw  here  one  M. 
Chales,  of  Rochelle,  a  merchant  who  changed  his  religion,  and  all 
his  family,  and  who  had  fled  with  all  his  family  after  their  conver- 
sion ;  and  it  was  told  me  that  there  were  other  of  the  recent  converts 
at  Rochelle  and  other  places  in  France  who  were  arranging  their 
affairs  to  retire.  I  met  with  but  one  sailor ;  before  making  myself 
known  to  him  I  learnt  from  him  that  there  were  very  few  sailors 
there,  and  that  there  were  but  five  who  had  embai-ked  on  board  of 
English  vessels  yet  But  as  soon  as  I  made  myself  known  to  him. 
he  left  and  fled.  I  inquired  still  further  ia  the  city  if  any  other 
French  sailors  had  been  seen,  and  I  was  told  that  there  were  about 
25  sailors  who  had  passed,  with  their  captains,  of  the  R.  P.  R.,  who 
had  escaped  in  their  own  vessels,  and  touched  at  Plymouth.  I  was 
also  told  that  some  Frenchmen  had  gone  to  Carolina  and  Penn- 
sylvania. 

At  Dartmouth,  they  told  me  that  12  or  15  had  landed  there,  and 


406  FRENCH   PROTESTANT    E.EFUGEES. 

had  all  gone  on  to  London.  There  were  still  there  two  ministers,  with 
their  wives  and  children.  I  spoke  to  one  of  these  rainistei's,  not  be- 
ing able  to  see  the  other  because  he  was  sick.  He  told  me  that  if 
M.,  the  embassador,  had  given  his  word,  that  on  returning  to  France 
he  could  live  undisturbed,  they  would  return  willingly — he  and  his 
comrade  with  their  families.  And  I  promised  that  the  embassador 
would  give  his  word;  and  upon  that  he  told  me  he  would  send  his 
last  resolution  to  London. 

At  Weymouth  I  found  but  a  single  Frenchman,  who  testified  that 
his  greatest  happiness  would  be  to  return  to  France  and  live  accord- 
ing to  his  religion,  but  that  he  had  relatives  in  London,  whom  he 
should  hunt  up,  and  be  guided  by  their  example.  I  endeavored  to 
have  him  come  to  a  determination  of  himself,  but  it  was  impossible. 
I  was  informed  that  not  more  than  7  or  8  Frenchmen  had  landed  in 
that  city.  I  found  no  Frenchmen  at  Portsmouth.  I  was  told  that 
some  had  landed  there,  but  a  very  small  number. 
Done  at  London,  January  24,  1686. 

Egbert. 


No.  9,  Vol.  ii.  pp.  19-22. 

Extracts  of  some  reports  made  to  Count  d'Avaiix  touehmg 
the  projected  flight  of  religionists,  by  the  Sieur  de  Tilliers, 
designated  sometimes  as  letters  of  advice. 

Letter  of  advice  to  Count  d'Avaiix. 

Harlaem,  ITth  January,  1686. 
There  are  some  persons  on  the  point  of  leaving  Jarnac,  in  Angu- 
mois  and  its  environs ;  they  meet  at  a  place  named  Causes,  in  Saintonge, 
two  or  three  leagues  from  Royan.  From  Causes  they  mean  to  goby 
night  to  a  town  named  St.  George.  A  vessel  awaits  them  there. 
There  is  no  harbor  there,  and  but  few  vessels  stop  before  that  town. 
Persons  from  Causes  will  join  those  from  Jarnac.  They  will  make  in 
all  about  500  persons  with  little  baggage.  Masson,  minister  of 
Causes,  who  urges  on  the  enterprise,  is  here.  Jean  Gale,  priest  of  St. 
Denis,  assists  them  much  by  giving  certificates  to  the  reformers,  who 
ask  him  in  order  to  save  themselves.  I  have  seen  many  such,  certi- 
fying them  to  be  very  good  Catholics,  Apostolic  and  Roman.  Finally, 
it  seems  to  me  that  the  flight  of  these  people  is  winked  at,  so  great 
is  the  number  going  away  on  all  sides. 


AUTHENTIC    DOCUMENTS.  407 

Letter  of  M.  de  TiUieres  of  the  loth  April,  1686. 

M.  Gaylen,  of  Lyons,  a  famous  bookseller,  and  worth  a  million,  is 
on  the  point  of  joining  his  brother,  who  has  been  in  this  city  for 
three  months.  This  brother  lived  in  Paris,  at  the  Croix-de-Fei*,  street 
of  St.  Denis.     He  is  supposed  to  be  worth  100,000  fr. 

From  the  same,  ZOth  April,  1686. 

Madame  de  la  Milliere  has  a  power  of  attorney  from  her  husband, 
who  is  a  captain  of  cavalry  among  the  reformed,  giving  her  power 
to  sell  his  property.  She  has  sold  a  farm,  in  Brittany,  renting  for 
1,000  crowns.  She  obtained  for  it  24,000  livres.  One  half  in  ready- 
money,  and  the  other  half  on  time.  With  the  half  she  has  received 
she  will  immediately  depart. 

From  the  same,  BOth  April,  1686. 
A  man  of  Cognac  saved  himself  with  his  wife  and  son.  He  fell  in 
with  some  cavaliers,  as  a  garrison  at  the  house  of  M.  de  la  Roche- 
breuillet.  These  cavaliers,  or  dragoons,  took  this  little  boy  and 
placed  him  before  one  of  them  on  horseback,  and  searched  the 
father,  and  found  on  him  800  francs,  which  they  took.  The  man 
said  to  them :  If  you  take  me  with  you,  I  will  sign,  and  you  will 
have  to  restore  my  money  to  me.  Give  me  my  liberty,  I  leave  it 
with  you.  They  did  so,  and  said  to  him  :  We  are  equally  obliged  to 
others ;  God  guide  you !  The  wife  went  by  another  route,  and 
saved  a  good  sum. 

Letter  of  Sieur  de  TiUieres  of  the  16th  September,  1686,  joined  to  a 
dispatch  of  Count  d'Avaux  of  the  I'lth  September. 
I  have  seen  a  letter  of  Mad.  de  Passy,  written  from  Paris,  and 
another  from  the  brother  of  M.  de  Formont,  otherwise  D'Ablancourt. 
Mad.  de  Passy  writes :  "My  husband  has  been  ai'rested  6  leagues 
from  home  ;  I  hope  his  design  has  not  been  discovered.  He  had  with 
him  two  of  our  friends.  I  am  using  all  the  credit  I  have  to  obtain 
his  liberty.  Provided  the  whole  troop  keep  secret,  I  do  not  doubt 
that  all  will  go  well.  I  have  just  learned  that  four  have  saved  them- 
selves, after  having  heard  of  the  misfortune  of  M.  Passy."  The  letter 
of  Sieur  d'Ablancourt  is  as  follows:  "  M.  the  Intendant  caused  us  to 
come  to  his  house,  myself  and  five  others,  and  said  to  us  :  You  are 
watched,  because  we  have  learned  that  you  mean  to  go  away. 
Judge  what  reply  we  made  to  that.  He  said  to  us :  Return  home 
and  neither  speak  nor  think  of  what  is  suspected  of  you.  Upon 
which  we  separated.     But  judge  from  what  follows :  Of  thirty-five 


408  FRENCH   PROTESTANT   REFUGEES. 

of  US,  seven  have  gone,  having  heard  of  the  taking  of  M.  de  Passy, 
which  gives  me  great  chagrin.  In  this  letter  was  a  billet  for  M.  de 
Verasse,  othei-wise  de  Be^'de,  who  saved  himself  with  his  wife  and 
nine  other  relatives  of  these  gentlemen.  This  M.  de  Verasse  has 
conceived  a  great  friendship  for  me,  seeing  me  with  his  relative,  the 
Sieur  d'Ablancourt ;  so  much  so  that  during  a  walk  he  read  to  me 
this  billet,  which  was  conceived  in  these  terms:  "Fear  nothing,  God 
will  be  for  us,  and  none  shall  be  against  us."  In  fine.  Monsieur, 
nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  if  care  is  not  taken,  all  this  will  go 
as  above.  Messieurs  D'Ablancourt  and  De  Verasse  told  me  yesterday, 
that  the  rendezvous  was  the  day  after  the  seizure  of  M.  Passy,  and 
that  on  the  night  of  his  capture  they  were  to  assemble.  I  send  joxi 
things  as  I  find  them.  If  they  escape,  as  I  doubt  not  they  will,  it  will 
be  no  fault  of  mine.  The  nephew  and  nieces  of  M.  de  Passy,  his 
mother,  brothers  and  the  child  of  M.  de  Grimpre  and  numbers  of  their 
relatives  are  already  here.  M.  Claude  said  yesterday  to  another  minis- 
ter who  repeated  it  to  me :  "  Eight  or  ten  of  our  friends  are  to  leave 
Paris  this  week.  I  shall  send  a  guide  to  Charleroi  where  I  know  they 
are  to  pass.  Is  it  not  an  admirable  thing  that  God  makes  use  of  our 
greatest  enemies  to  assist  us  ?" 

Letter  from  the  same,  10th  October. 
Madame  de  Marolles,  whose  husband  is  in  the  galleys,  has  just 
arrived  from  Paris  with  her  sister  and  three  children.  They  number 
in  all  nine  persons.  Six  guides  took  them  from  Paris.  They  engage 
to  take  each  person,  great  or  small,  for  20  pistoles.  These  same 
guides  leaving  these. persons  4  leagues  from  Mons,  returned  to  Paris 
to  seek  for  12  persons  among  whom  are  the  Madmoiselles  de  Cormon. 
Their  general  route  is  by  way  of  Mons.  Mad.  de  Marolles'  eldest 
son  is  at  Paris.  He  is  a  convert.  His  residence  can  readily  be 
found.  He  it  is,  as  his  mother  informs  me,  who  assists  all  desiring  to 
flee.  He  goes  to  their  houses  and  furnishes  them  guides.  In  fine, 
he  is  the  factotum  of  those  either  escaping  or  desiring  to  escape. 
He  means  to  escape  himself  Mad.  de  Passy  and  three  or  four  young 
ladies  are  in  a  garret  opposite  the  house  where  lives  the  son  of 
Madame  de  Marolles.  They  are  under  assumed  names.  A  man,  by 
the  name  of  Auge,  formerly  minister  at  Chalons,  in  Champagne,  and 
who  has  changed  his  religion,  is  at  Paris.  He  is  concealed  and  desires 
to  escape.  The  son  of  Mad.  de  Marolles  goes-  often  to  see  him.  A 
man  by  the  name  of  Girardin  has  this  day  shown  me  a  letter  from 
one  of  his  uncles  named  Longchamps,  a  wood-merchant  at  Paris, 
whose  children  are  already  in  this  country.  He  only  waits  for  some 
money  to  go  to  Holland  with  three  of  his  relatives. 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  409 


No.   10.  Vol.  2.  p.  56. 

In  concluding  a  letter  addressed  from  London  to  Basnage,  the  2d 
N^ovember,  1717,  the  Abbe  Dubois  thus  speaks  of  the  alliance  just 
completed  between  France  and  Holland: 

"  My  joy  will  be  perfect,  if  I  join  to  the  joy  of  seeing  again  so 
good  a  friend,  that  of  being  assured  that  we  can  affirm  the  intimate 
connection  between  France  and  Holland,  to  which  we  have  contributed. 
I  am  wholly  yours,  and  embrace  you  with  all  my  heart." 

(See  Basnage,  Annals  of  the  United  Provinces,  Book  ii,  preface,  p.  5.  The  Hague. 
1T26.) 


No.   11.  Vol.  2,  p.   136. 

Letter  addressed  by  the  minister  Scion  to  the  magistracy  of  Amsterdam, 
in  the  name  of  the  Protestant  French  refugees  in  that  city,  the  24:th 
March,  1684 

"Lords! 

"The  founder  of  the  ancient  Jewish  republic,  whose  polity  was 
so  admirable,  the  famous  Moses,  who  has  left  us  such  fine  laws,  re- 
lates, in  tlie  fii'st  of  his  books,  that  God,  in  creating  the  world,  did 
not  content  himself  with  reflecting  each  day  on  his  works,  the  one 
after  the  other,  part  by  part,  as  he  called  them  forth  from  nothing, 
and  in  remarking  their  natural  and  essential  goodness  ;  God  saw  that 
it  was  good,  says  the  sacred  writer  repeatedly  six  times,  according  to 
the  order  and  degree  of  creation :  but  the  last  day,  after  finishing 
the  heavens  and  earth,  he  considered  these  same  works  altogether  in 
their  connection  with  each  other,  and  by  the  harmony  which  unites 
them,  and  conspires  to  the  good  of  the  universe.  And,  in  that  view, 
appearing  to  him  still  better  and  more  excellent,  God  saw  all  things 
that  he  had  7nade,  and  they  were  very  good,  adds  that  holy  man,  in 
completing  the  history  of  that  masterpiece. 

"  This  conduct  of  the  Creator,  in  the  production  of  the  physical 
world,  is  a  niodel  for  the  conduct  of  sovereigns  in  the  founding  of 
States,  the  political  world  whose  creators  they  are.  These  visible 
Gods  of  the  earth  (Psalm  Ixxxii.,  6),  as  the  prophet  calls  them,  must 
not  regard  only  in  particular  and  separately  the  new  works  they 
VOL.  II. — 18 


410  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

found  from  day  to  day,  as  things  in  themselves  good,  and  in  their 
nature ;  their  view  extends  further,  and  they  consider  them  as  a 
whole,  and  conjointly  with  their  public  relations,  and  by  that  chain 
of  relations  which  connects  them,  and  which  makes  them  serve  for 
the  good  of  civil  society,  in  which  they  find  a  new  degree  of  good 
ness,  amounting  to  excellence. 

**  It  is,  3^our  honors,  in  this  double  perspective  that  the  venerable 
magistracy  of  Amsterdam  has  envisaged  the  protection  with  which 
they  favor  the  Protestants  of  France,  who  have  withdrawn  under  the 
shadow  of  their  wings.  It  has  been  regarded  both  in  itself,  and  in 
its  nature,  as  a  good  work,  according  to  the  regulations  of  Chris- 
tian charity,  that  we  ought  to  preserve  towards  our  brothers,  and  of 
that  hospitality  whose  exercise  entertained  angels  unawares.  And  it 
has  been  regarded  further  in  relation  to  the  city  and  the  republic,  as 
a  general  good,  and  as  a  stroke  of  statesmanship  of  the  last  importance 
to  its  aggrandizement.  So  that  if  the  Psalmist  sung,  that  the  heavens 
tell  the  glory  of  God,  and  its  extent  publishes  the  work  of  his  hands : 
and,  if  tlie  apostle,  entering  into  the  same  thought,  could  add :  that 
the  eternal  power,  and  other  invisible  perfections  become,  as  it  were, 
visible  by  the  creation  of  the  world,  so  we  can  say  that  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  refugees  for  the  Protestant  religion  at  Amsterdam,  is 
entirely  the  glory  of  those  illustrious  burgomasters ;  and  that  the 
power,  the  wisdom,  piety,  zeal,  and  other  Christian  virtues  of  their 
noble  lordships,  will  shine  magnificently  in  the  eyes  of  all  Europe. 

"  The  wise  and  skilful  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  who  fill  so  worthily 
and  with  so  much  eloquence  the  sacred  pulpits  of  their  city,  and  who, 
after  the  example  of  St.  Paul,  have  watched  both  day  and  night  with 
solicitude  over  all  the  churches  ;  not  only  over  those  which  are  tri- 
umphant under  shelter  of  their  voices,  and  where  they  are  firmly 
established,  but  also  over  those  still  fighting  under  the  cross,  and 
whom  they  succor  by  their  hands  raised  on  high,  like  Moses,  have 
not  failed  in  their  excellent  sermons  to  show  to  your  noble  lordships 
this  work  in  the  first  of  its  aspects,  which  is  its  beautiful  side,  inas- 
much as  it  regards  heaven,  and  promise  them,  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Great  Rewarder  of  eternal  crowns  in  paradise.  And  we 
take  the  liberty,  may  it  please  your  honors,  to  bring  before  you  this 
work  in  its  last  or  more  earthly  aspect,  and  to  assure  you  that,  on 
account  of  the  great  utility  it  brings  to  the  public,  and  which  will  be 
better  known  hereafter,  posterity  will  engrave  it  on  tables  of  brass, 
that  the  memory  thereof  may  be  preserved  for  ever,  and  a  testimony 
of  gratitude  to  your  descendants. 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  411 

"  For  this  purpose,  we  give  a  census  ot  our  persons  and  families ; 
and,  in  detail,  of  our  professions  and  emplo^mients,  which  we  have 
added  thereto.  If  your  honors  will  deign  to  cast  your  eyes  upon 
them,  as  we  dare  to  hope  from  your  great  virtues,  which  make  it  a 
pleasuj-e  and  a  duty  to  imitate  God,  you  will  see  about  2000  persons 
therein,  who  have  come  to  this  city,  without  counting  those  who 
have  gone  with  Monsieur  de  Sommelsdijk  to  Surinam,  whose  number 
is  considerable;  you  will  see  that  the  greater  part  of  this  number, 
being  still  in  infancy  or  youth,  can  be  readily  formed  to  the  air  and 
language  of  the  country,  as  though  they  had  been  born  here,  and 
become  gradually  good  and  natural  Hollanders  ;  you  will  see  all  sorts 
of  orders  and  conditions,  literary  men  and  soldiers,  laymen  and  eccle- 
siastics, merchants  and  artisans,  mechanics  and  sailors,  of  whom  the 
greater  portion  live  on  their  income,  or  by  their  industry,  without 
being  aa  expense  to  the  church.  You  will  see  a  large  number  of 
different  trades,  which  have  not  been  hitherto  carried  on  in  this  city, 
or  in  the  United  Provinces ;  embroiderers  in  silk  and  thread,  designers 
of  ruffs  and  flowered  stuffs,  serge  and  drugget  manufactures,  bleach- 
ers and  workers  of  gold  and  silver  from  Lyons ;  workers  in  ventail 
and  ebony,  manufacturers  of  woollen  hats  and  mould  candles,  and 
many  other  things.  You  can  see  a  quantity  of  newly-manufactured 
articles  that  could  be  got  only  hitherto  by  going  to  France,  but  are  now 
made  here.  Eoyal  serges  and  others ;  hat-bands  and  bolting  cloths 
(a  kind  of  thin  stuff) ;  taffetas  both  single  and  double,  and  of  all 
colors  ;  crapes  of  wool  and  silk  ;  fans  and  woollen  hats  embroidered, 
both  of  gold  and  silver,  in  thread  and  in  silk  ;  laces  and  ornaments, 
and,  finally,  the  queen's  ruff,  manufactured  in  the  house  of  Orphans ; 
besides  the  serges  and  drugget  of  Nimes ;  brocades  and  brocatels  ; 
ribbons  and  ornaments,  plain  and  flowered  gauzes;  Castor  hats  and 
other  fabrics  of  that  kind,  the  greater  part  of  which  have  never  been 
made  in  the  city ;  and  other  things  are  being  made  in  much  larger 
quantities  since  our  coming,  which  has  increased  them. 

All  this,  your  honors,  has  been  brought  about  in  two  years'  time, 
and  without  expense;  and  what  all  your  predecessors  have  been 
unable  to  attain  to  with  all  their  applications,  and  for  which  the 
greatest  ministers  of  His  Very  Christian  Majesty  have  spent  millions 
of  money.  This  fills  the  city  more  and  more  with  inhabitants,  peo- 
ples your  fine  colony  of  Surinam,  increases  the  public  revenues, 
strengthens  your  walls  and  boulevards,  multiplies  arts  and  fabrics, 
establishes  new  modes,  caused  silver  to  flow,  raised  new  edifices, 
caused  commerce  to  flourish  more  and  more,  fortified  the  Protestant 


412  FRENCH    PROTESTANT   REFUGEES. 

religion,  and  bi'ought  more  abundance  of  all  things,  and  is  going  to 
bring  purchasers  here  from  Germany,  the  kingdoms  of  the  Korth^ 
Spain,  the  Baltic  Sea,  the  West  Indies  and  islands  of  America,  and 
even  England.  In  fine,  it  Avill  contribute  to  render  Amsterdam  one 
of  the  most  famous  cities  of  the  world  ;  and,  like  ancient  Tyre,  which 
the  prophet  called  the  'perfect  in  beauty,  and  of  which  he  spoke  that 
she  traflacked  with  all  isles  and  all  nations ;  that  her  roads  were 
through  the  heart  of  the  sea ;  that  all  the  ships  and  sailors  of  the 
ocean  came  into  her  port ;  that  she  abounded  in  all  kinds  of  mer- 
chandise, and  that  her  merchants  were  all  princes. 

From  the  year  1684,  when  the  persecution  commenced  in  France, 
we  began  to  think  of  leaving  that  kingdom  to  go  elsewhere,  to  have 
liberty  of  conscience  and  the  public  exercise  of  our  religion.  For 
that  purpose,  the  Sieur  Amonet  came  expressly  from  Paris  to  the 
Hague,  to  facilitate  for  us  the  means  of  so  doing,  and  he  addressed 
himself  first  to  the  Sieur  Scion,  minister  of  our  nation,  who  was  among 
the  first  to  take  refuge  here,  and  was  honorably  treated  by  their  N.  and 
G  P.,  and  even  with  a  recommendation  to  the  first  Walloon  church 
which  should  be  vacant  in  the  province,  in  consequence  of,  and  by, 
advice  of,  the  council  of  that  eit3^ 

After  these  two  persons  had  conferred  on  the  matter,  they  drew 
up  a  memorial,  containing  a  project  for  the  introduction  of  foreign 
manufactures  in  Holland,  by  the  coming  of  persecuted  Protestants, 
and  of  some  privileges  that  the  cities  should  grant  them,  in  order 
to  draw  them  here  in  preference  to  other  countries  of  our  reli- 
gion. They  had  the  honor  of  presenting  this  memorial  to  the  Lord 
President  Burgomaster  Van  Beuningen,  as  to  one  of  the  most  en- 
lightened individuals  of  the  government,  who  is  not  less  known  in 
the  great  world  by  the  sublimity  of  his  rare  genius,  and  the  penetra- 
tions of  his  consummate  policy,  than  by  his  zeal  and  his  inviolable 
fidelity  to  the  interests  of  the  republic. 

This  memorial  having  been  carried  in  council,  the  same  Signeui* 
Van  Beuningen,  who  was  then  President,  and  the  Lord  Burgomasters 
Hudde,  Corver,  and  Opmeer,  regents  with  him,  whose  merit  is  not 
less  great,  and  who  yield  to  him  in  nothing  in  the  glory  of'govern- 
ment,  have  granted  the  inght  of  citizenship,  personal  freedom,  ex- 
emption from  taxes,  and  other  ordinary  city  charges,  general  collec- 
tions, and  some  other  favors,  during  three  years,  in  favor  of  the  refu- 
gees. And  in  addition, their  noble  lordships  guaranteed  in  the  States  of 
Holland  and  West  Friesland  that  they  should  be  exempt  from  the 
tax  of  the  two  hundredth  penny,  and  from  all  other  extraordinary 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  413 

taxes  of  the  province,  during  twelve  years,  however  great  might  be 
the  properties  they  might  bring  here,  all  which  has  been  the  first  foun- 
dation of  our  retreat,  and  establishment  at  Amsterdam,  where  we 
still  enjoy  these  privileges. 

The  news  of  these  concessions  was  no  sooner  known  in  France, 
than  some  Protestant  families  began  to  arrive  in  this  city,  on  which 
account  in  the  following  year,  1682,  the  Lords  Burgomasters,  Hudde, 
who  is  held  in  veneration  for  his  exquisite  prudence,  and  by  his 
great  modesty  and  mildness  has  gained  the  heart  of  the  whole  world ; 
Maerseveen,  who  is  admired  for  his  intrepidity  and  vigor  in  sustain- 
ing the  rights  of  the  republic;  Munter,  who  has  already  grown  gray 
in  the  consulship,  and  who  has  acquired  general  esteem  and  approba- 
tion ;  and  Witsen,  of  whom  may  be  said  what  the  Tecohite  said  of 
King  David,  that  he  was  to  us  like  an  angel  of  the  Lord,  and  upon 
whom  tlieir  noble  lordships,  his  illustrious  colleagues,  have  reposed 
in  the  matter  of  the  refugees,  and  of  foreign  manufactures  he  has 
been  the  first  great  promoter,  having  entered  the  regency  for  that 
purpose,  and  to  carry  forward  the  project  of  introducing  those  new 
fabrics  to  perfection  and  their  highest  period.  They  resolved  to  make 
use  of  a  house,  unoccupied  and  of  little  consequence,  near  the  port  of 
"Wetering ;  and  they  appointed,  as  director-general,  the  Sieur  Pierre 
Bailly,  who  had  already  had  charge  of  the  royal  manufactory  of  Cler- 
mont de  Lodeve  in  Languedoc,  and  who  had  succeeded  there  admira- 
bly, in  spite  of  all  the  difficulties  of  a  great  enterprise. 

And  because  the  great  occupations  of  the  consulship  would  not 
permit  their  noble  lordships  to  give  their  personal  attention  to  this 
matter,  they  have  fi'om  the  beginning,  and  from  year  to  year,  de- 
volved it  upon  the  commissioners,  who  have  all  perfectly  seconded 
their  good  intentions,  among  whom  the  Lord  Grand  BailliBoreel,  and 
the  Lord,  formerly  Sheriff  and  Senator,  Sautin,  have  employed  them- 
selves with  so  much  ardor  and  diligence,  of  trouble  and  labor,  that  it 
is  but  justice  to  say  that  they  are  still,  and  have  been,  to  the  manufac- 
turers of  Amsterdam,  what  was  the  image  of  Phidias  in  the  centre  of 
the  buckler  of  Minerva  at  Athens,  which  sustained  the  whole  machine, 
and  which  could  not  be  taken  away,  without  the  statue  falling  to 
pieces. 

This  establishment  having  continued  happily  during  the  last  year, 
during  the  regency  of  the  Lords  Burgomasters  Munter,  Opmeer,  Van 
Beuningen  and  Bors,  who  in  his  first  consulship  signalized  himself, 
and  continuing  still  under  the  regency  of  your  noble  lordships,  by  the 
care  and  good  conduct  of  the  same  Lord  Commissioner  Sautin,  who 
has  responded  with  success  to  the  hope  that  the  Lord  Burgomaster 


414  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

Witsen  had  conceived  of  him,  when  he  left  him  as  a  helm,  on  his  going 
to  fill  the  situation  of  deputy  in  the  assembly  of  their  high  mighti- 
nesses our  lords,  of  the  States  General,  to  which  his  great  merit  raised 
him,  and  of  the  lords,  formerly  sheriffs  and  senators.  Six  and  De  Vry, 
who  were  associated  with  him ;  this  establishment,  I  say,  has  made 
such  a  noise  in  Europe,  as  to  draw  hither  nearly  all  of  the  workmen 
and  artisans.  Yes,  my  lords,  it  is  manufactures  that  has  brought  to 
this  city  such  as  understand  these  kind  of  fabrics,  and  which  has  pro- 
duced this  great  number  of  shops,  in  which  men  are  found  working, 
in  all  the  streets.  In  imitation  of  it,  many  among  you,  aided  by  your 
favors  and  the  immunities  of  your  citizenships,  have  established,  some 
two,  others  three,  and  others  six,  twelve,  and  even  fifteen  looms,  con- 
tinually moving  in  our  houses,  under  the  shadow  of  your  protection. 
This  it  is  finally  that  has  brought  here  the  most  skilful  workmen,  and 
given  them  emulation,  and  compelled  them  daily  to  present  requests 
to  you  for  new  establishments  advantageous  to  the  city. 

So  it  is,  my  lords,  that  in  relieving  the  wants  of  the  members  of 
the  mystical  body  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  are  exiles  for  his 
name,  you  have  labored  for  the  general  good  of  the  States,  and  espe- 
cially of  the  city  you  govern  with  so  much  zeal  and  prudence.  And 
thus  it  is  that  you  have  drawn  to  yourselves  the  vows  and  the  hearts 
of  the  people,  who  regard  you  as  defenders  of  the  faith,  the  asylum 
of  the  pei'secuted,  the  pillars  of  justice,  supports  of  liberty,  protectors 
of  the  church,  and  the  fathers  of  the  country. 

But  as  God  preserves  and  multiplies  every  day  by  his  providence 
the  works  he  has  formed  in  creation,  so  you,  noble  lords,  who  are  a 
living  image  of  his  power  in  their  authority,  cannot  better  imitate 
this  conduct  than  hy  affirming  and  augmenting  the  number  of  our 
families  and  of  the  fabrics  already  introduced  b}^  them  into  this  city, 
which  can  be  readily  done  by  means  contained  in  a  new  memorial, 
drawn  up  by  us  on  that  subject,  and  which  we  dare  to  present  with 
very  profound  respect  to  you,  noble  lords,  relying  upon  that  tender 
compassion  shown  by  you,  in  so  Christian  and  generous  a  manner,  to 
those  whom  the  violence  of  persecution  and  the  desire  of  safety  have 
induced  to  abandon  their  native  land.  God,  who  is  pleased  with  the 
praises  of  his  Israel,  and  who  sees  from  his  heaven  that  it  was  in 
order  to  fulfil  this  sacred  duty,  and  other  parts  of  his  public  worship, 
that  we  have  come  to  Holland,  will  incline,  without  doubt,  your 
hearts,  which  he  holds  in  his  hands  and  controls  like  the  course  of 
streams,  to  grant  us  the  favor  that  we  ask  of  you,  witli  all  the  ardor 
of  which  we  are  capable,  as  the  crowning  gift  of  all  that  we  ha\e  re- 
ceived at  your  hands. 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  415 

By  so  doing,  my  lords,  you  will  open  a  perpetual  and  inexhausti- 
ble flow  of  people  of  the  reformed  religion,  who,  being  drawn  to  this 
city  by  this  favor,  will  bring  hither  not  only,  from  day  to  day,  the 
new  modes  and  fabrics  of  France,  which  are  constantly  changing,  but 
in  addition  will  supply  you  with  the  wherewithal  to  increase  your 
fine  colony  of  Surinam,  if  you  desire  it.  We  have  already  a  large 
number  of  workmen  of  all  kinds:  carpenters,  masons,  coopers,  farriers, 
locksmiths,  and  people  proper  for  agriculture,  who,  having  taken 
refuge  in  Amsterdam,  and  who  have  gone  there  with  the  Lord  Dal- 
bus,  minister  of  our  nation,  who  has  encouraged  them  by  his  example, 
and  have  taken  with  them  the  properties  saved  from  their  shipwreck ; 
so  that  it  has  not  cost  those  interested  any  thing  to  engage  them  in 
the  undertaking,  which  otherwise  would  have  cost  them  a  large  sum, 
as  your  noble  lords  can  be  informed  by  the  Lord,  formerly  Alderman 
and  Senator,  Sautin,  who  has  taken,  and  continues  to  take,  upon  him- 
self all  the  trouble,  and  to  whom  the  refugees  were  sent  and  con- 
ducted by  the  Sieur  Scion. 

It  will  be,  in  fine,  my  lords,  a  public  and  perpetual  monument 
of  your  piety  towards  God,  and  of  your  good-will  towards  the  church, 
which  will  render  immortal  the  glory  of  your  regency,  and  which  will 
give  a  new  subject  for  redoubling  our  vows  and  our  prayers  for  your 
prospei'ity,  noble  lords,  and  for  a  blessing  on  the  republic  you  govern, 
and  of  the  whole  state,  for  which  we,  as  good  and  faithful  Hollanders, 
anticipate  a  duration  as  long  as  the  world,  and  to  your  illustrious 
houses,  from  father  to  son,  the  government  you  fill  so  worthily. 

With  good  heart,  we  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  a  very  great 
respect, 

Our  Lords, 

Of  your  Noble  Lordships, 
Tlie  very  humble  and  very  obedient  servants,  the  French  Refugee 
Protestants  at  Amsterdam,  and  for  them, 

Scion. 
A.rasterdam,  March  24,  16S4. 


No.   12.  Vol.  ii.  p.   139. 

The  Protestant  Society  of  Missions  received  in  1828 
and  1829  the  following  reports,  which  were  drawn  up  with 
regard  to  the  Cape  Colony  by  the  missionaries  sent  to 
preach  the  Gospel  in  Africa : 


416  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  REFUGEES. 

"  "We  are  at  length  among  the  descendants  of  the  French  refu- 
gees. Our  arrival  among  them  has  been  truly  like  the  meeting  of 
Jacob  and  Esau.  They  have  received  us  with  demonstrations  of  the 
most  lively  joy,  considering  us  as  envoys  of  the  church,  who  have 
come  from  the  country  of  their  ancestors  to  reanimate  their  faith. 
We  left  Capetown  on  the  3d  of  JS'ovember,  1828,  with  Doctor  Philip 
and  some  missionaries.  For  the  first  time,  we  travelled  in  a  wagon 
in  the  deserts  of  Africa.  After  a  journey  of  twelve  hours,  during 
which  we  saw  only  sand,  shrubs,  and  occasionally  some  farms,  mak- 
ing a  true  oasis  in  the  midst  of  the  desert,  we  arrived  at  Perles.  .  .  . 
Doctor  Philip  presented  us  to  the  assembly,  composed  in  great  part 
of  descendants  of  French  refugees,  to  whom  we  were  obliged  to  speak 
in  English,  a  missionary  serving  as  interpreter.  The  meeting  was  a 
very  touching  one.  After  reading  the  letters  we  brought  with  us, 
we  made  a  short  discourse,  in  which  we  spoke  of  the  favors  God  had 
bestowed  on  our  country,  of  the  religion  enjoyed  by  our  brethren 
there,  of  the  number  of  Protestants  at  present  in  France ;  whilst  lis- 
tening, old  men  shed  tears,  and  it  appeared  impossible  to  them  that 
their  brethren  should  enjoy  such  privileges  in  a  land  where  their 
ancestors  had  been  so  cruelly  persecuted.  The  following  days  were 
almost  wholly  taken  up  with  visits.  .  .  .  There  is  not  a  house  which 
does  not  contain  large  folio  bibles,  in  which  the  date  of  the  birth 
and  the  name  of  every  member  is  inscribed.  Genealogy  was  always 
the  subject  which  served  as  an  introduction  to  our  conversation. 
From  degree  to  degree  they  ascended  to  their  ancestors,  and  finally 
they  were  French. 

"  Perle  is  the  largest  village  in  the  French  Valley.  This  place  is  situ- 
ated at  the  foot  of  a  mountain  which  bears  the  same  name.  Opposite 
is  another  chain  of  mountains  of  great  height,  making  a  part  of  the 
mountains  the  Dutch  portion  of  the  country.  In  this  valley,  which  is 
about  14  leagues  in  length  and  three  in  width,  is  a  number  of  small 
villages  built  by  French  refugees.  The  first  we  visited  is  Drachen- 
stein,  four  or  five  leagues  from  Perle.  This  village  is  one  of  the  old- 
est in  the  valley.  They  point  out  here  where  the  first  Protestant 
church  was  built  by  the  refugees.  No  trace  of  the  edifice  can  be 
seen  now ;  not  a  stone  remains.  For  a  long  time  there  was  but 
this  single  French  church  in  the  whole  colony ;  the  refugees  were 
obliged  to  come  to  it  from  considerable  distances.  The  first  pastor 
of  Drachenstein  was  named  Simon.  He  was  a  very  pious  man,  and 
exercised  great  influence  on  the  colony.  His  memory  is  held  in  great 
veneration,  and  at  a  little  distance  from  Drachenstein,  at  one  of  the 
extremities  of  the  valley,  there  is  a  mountain  bearing  his  name. 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  417 

"  From  Drachenstein  we  went  to  Frencli-hoeck  (French  corner) ; 
it  is  a  place  full  of  antiquities.  A  house  built  in  1694  was  shown 
me,  and  oaks  of  immense  size,  planted  the  same  year  by  the  refugees. 
We  also  found  some  French  books,  among  others  a  metrical  version 
of  the  Psalms  by  Clement  Marot,  the  only  copies  hitherto  seen  by 
us.  But  one  of  the  places  the  most  interesting  to  us,  and  where  we 
found  the  most  ardent  Christianity,  is  the  Valley  of  Charron.  The 
inhabitants  are  nearly  all  descendants  of  one  family.  They  are  dis- 
tinguished from  all  others  by  certain  customs  truly  remarkable. 
From  the  time  of  their  settlement  in  this  place,  one  of  the  richest  and 
most  beautiful  parts  of  the  country,  they  have  always  had  at  their 
head  an  old  man,  without  whose  advice  they  undertook  nothing  of 
any  consequence.  This  person  is  always  chosen  from  among  the 
elders  of  the  church,  and  is  held  in  great  veneration ;  knd  whether  in 
relation  to  traffic  or  marriage,  the  old  man  is  consulted.  This  patri- 
archal kind  of  government  has  been  very  favorable  to  industry,  for 
there  is  no  place  in  the  colony  more  prosperous ;  but  this  patriarchy 
has  also  been  favorable  to  piety;  for  the  faith  of  their  fathers 
has  been  preserved  intact  among  them.  We  have  noticed  with 
much  pleasure  that  they  have  at  heart  the  instruction  of  their  slaves. 
In  visiting  them,  we  have  been  surprised  at  the  order,  neat- 
ness, and  elegance  of  their  houses. 

"  I  shall  refrain  from  speaking  of  other  places  visited  by  us.  Every 
where  we  had  the  same  reception.  On  quitting  a  village,  the  inhabit- 
ants accompanied  us  in  large  numbers  to  the  next  village.  The 
horses  and  carriages  which  followed  us  formed  a  kind  of  caravan  in 
the  desert,  and  the  cloud  of  dust  raised  by  them  announced  afar  off 

our  coming The  first  time  we  celebrated  divine  service  in 

French  at  Perle,  the  crowd  was  so  great  that  one  half  were  compelled 
to  remain  outside  of  the  church  for  want  of  room.  Many  farmers  of 
neighboring  villages  had  come  some  leagues  to  hear  a  sermon  in  the 
language  of  their  fathers.  There  had  been  no  French  preaching  in 
the  colony  since  1739,  the  time  when  the  Dutch  government  unjustly 
forbid  the  French  refugees  from  celebrating  their  worship  in  their 
own  language.  They  have  not  foi'gotten  the  circumstance,  and  the 
date  of  that  year  was  still  present  in  their  memory. 

"The  whole  population  of  the  Valley  is  about  ten  thousand  souls, 
of  whom  four  thousand  are  free,  or  the  descendants  of  refugees,  and 
six  thousand  slaves.  All  these  villages  form  but  a  single  parish. 
Some  bishopricks  in  the  east  are  not  larger.  The  pastor  lives  at 
Perle,  which  is  the  principal  place  in  the  Valley,  and  the  missionary, 
principally  occupied  with   the  instruction   of  the   slaves,  also  lives 


4  1 8  FRENCH    PROTESTANT    REFUGEES. 

here.  With  the  exception  of  the  missionaiy  chapel  at  Perle,  and  the 
small  church  in  the  Valley  of  Charron,  there  is  but  a  single  temple  for 
the  entire  population.  Every  Sabbath  the  farmers  round  about  start 
at  break  of  day  in  their  carriages  to  go  to  church  ;  at  evening,  they 
return  quietly  with  their  families.  These  are  all  of  their  amusements. 
I  do  not  think  that  games  of  chance  are  at  all  known  in  the  country. 
In  general,  this  valley  is  in  a  state  of  great  prosperity.  Debt  is 
unknown.     It  is  the  most  flourishing  part  of  the  colony. 

(See  Journal  of  Evangelical  Missions,  fiftieth  year,  pp.  105-110.) 


The  missionary  Bisseux  writes  from  "  the  Perle  "  the  24th 
December,  1 829 : 

"There  is  in  general  much  piety  among  the  descendants  of  the 
refugees.  On  entering  their  houses,  the  first  objects  that  strike  the 
eye  are  the  Bible,  the  Psalms,  and  some  other  religious  books,  on  a 
table  near  the  window.  Some  of  them  have  family  worship  both 
morning  and  evening,  and  pray  from  the  fulness  of  their  hearts,  with- 
out using  forms. 

"  The  church  of  Drachenstein  has  had  four  French  pastors :  Simon, 
Daillie,  Beck,  and  Camper.  Whilst  this  last  pastor  was  living,  the 
Dutch  government  passed  an  ordinance  by  which  they  were  forbid- 
den to  use  thereafter  the  French  language  in  preaching  the  Word  of 
God.  The  French  have  been  obliged  to  learn  Dutch  since  then, 
and  to  see,  to  their  great  regret,  the  French  language  extinguished 
in  their  midst. 

M.  Delettre,  French  consiil  at  the  Cape,  has  been  so  good  as  to 
send  to  our  brother  the  following  documents : 

1st.  Names  of  the  different  families  of  French  refugees,  who  set- 
tled at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  at  the  time  of  the  revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes. 

List: 

Barret,  Bachet,  Basson,  Bastions,  Beaumons,  Beck,  Beneret, 
Bruet,  Bota. 

Camper,  Cellier,  Cordier,  Corprenant,  Couteau,  Convert,  Crognet. 

Daille,  Debuze,  Debeurieux,  Decabriere,  Delporte,  Deporte, 
Deruel,  Dumont,  Duplessis,  Dupres,  Dutoit,  Durant,  Dubuisson, 
Desavoye. 

Entreix. 

Fracha,  Fauche,  Floret,  Foury. 


AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS.  419 

Gauche,  Gordiol,  Gounay,  Grellon. 

Jacob,  Joxibert,  Jourdain, 

La  Grange,  Lanoy,  Laporte,  Lapretois,  Leclair,  Lecrivant,  Lefebvre, 
Le  Grand,  Le  Riche,  Le  Roux,  Lombard,    Longue. 

Malan,  Malherbe,  Maniet,  Marucene,  Marais,  Martinet,  Menard. 

Niel,  Norman,  Nortic. 

Passeman,  Peron,  Pinards,  Prevot. 

Rassemus,  Retif,  Richard,  Rousseau,  Roux. 

Sabatier,  Sellier,  Senccal,  Seuquette,  Simon. 

Tabordeux,  Taiilefer,  Tenaumant,  Terre-Blanche,  Terrier,  Terrout. 

Valleti,  Vanas,  Vattre,  Vaudray,  Verbal,  Villious,  De  Villiers, 
Vyot,  Viton,  Vitroux. 

In  all,  97  families. 

2d.  Regulations  of  the  body  of  17  who  represent  the  East  India 
Company  of  the  Low  Countries,  according  to  which  the  Chambers 
of  said  Company  shall  have  power  to  transport  to  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  persons  of  both  sexes  of  the  "reformed"  religion,  among  others, 
the  refugees  from  France  and  the  valleys  of  Piedmont. 

"  Whoever  desires,  either  alone  or  with  his  family,  to  go  to  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  shall  be  taken  there  in  the  vessels  of  the  Com- 
pany free  of  expense,  by  only  taking  the  oath  of  fidehty  to  the 
Company. 

"  No  one  shall  be  allowed  to  take  with  him  any  luggage  except 
what  shall  be  necessary  for  the  voyage. 

"Each  individual  shall  be  bound  to  settle  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  and  to  remain  there  permanently  to  gain  his  livelihood  and 
support,  either  as  a  laboring  man  or  by  some  art  or  trade. 

"  Every  one  applying  for  it  shall  receive  as  much  land  as  he 
can  cultivate,  and  in  case  of  necessity,  shall  be  supplied  with  all 
the  implements  necessary  for  tillage,  and  even  with  seed,  provided 
that  he  reimburse  the  Company  for  the  advances  which  have  been 
made  in  grain,  wine,  or  other  things. 

"Every  one  going  to  the  Cape  shall  be  obliged  to  remain  there 
five  years ;  but  if  he  cannot  make  so  long  a  stay  in  the  country,  he 
can,  by  presenting  a  petition  to  the  committee,  obtain  some  relaxation 
of  the  term  according  to  the  justness  of  his  remonstrance." 

(See  Journal  of  Evangelical  Missions,  fifth  year,  pp.  132-135.) 


THE    END. 


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